Apple's bad week: FTC pressure, delayed Siri AI, and a stock sell-off

[DragonSlayer101]

TL;DR: Apple stock tumbled nearly 7% on Thursday and Friday after the FTC warned the company over alleged anti-conservative bias in its news aggregation service, Apple News. The iPhone maker is also facing pressure from investors following reports that the long-awaited AI update to Siri has been delayed (again) after internal tests revealed a range of technical issues.

The latest catalyst for the sell-off is an FTC letter sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook, alleging that Apple News promotes liberal media outlets while suppressing conservative ones. According to the agency, this alleged left-wing bias violates federal consumer protection laws and raises "serious questions" about whether the company is acting in accordance with its own terms of service.

Written by FTC chair Andrew Ferguson, the letter cites a recent study by the right-wing Media Research Center, which analyzed 660 articles featured on Apple News in January 2026 during high-traffic morning time slots. The study found that most of the content came from outlets it described as liberal, including the Associated Press, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.

Another factor weighing on investor sentiment is a recent report claiming that Apple's long-anticipated Siri overhaul has been pushed back to at least May due to technical hurdles. The company had reportedly planned to debut the new AI features with iOS 26.4 in March, but is now expected to roll out most key features with iOS 26.5 in May and iOS 27 later in the fall.

The FTC's action came a day after President Donald Trump shared a New York Post article citing the Media Research Center report, which alleged that Apple News displays a "clear bias" against conservative outlets such as Fox News, the New York Post, the Daily Wire, and Breitbart.

Since being appointed FTC chair by Trump last year, Ferguson has launched multiple investigations into tech companies over alleged liberal bias. Prior to issuing the warning to Apple, he accused Google of blocking Republican fundraising emails through its automated spam-filtering system in Gmail.

Ferguson has also opened an investigation into the nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters for allegedly colluding with advertisers to boycott conservative platforms, and was sued by media rating service NewsGuard, which accused him of attempting to stifle free speech over its low rating of a conservative publication.

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Apple's bad week: FTC pressure, delayed Siri AI, and a stock sell-off

 

[human7]

Aside from the obvious and direct First Amendment freedom of the press, if we consider that social media platforms have a first amendment right to moderate their platforms however they see fit (apart from taking down illegal content), I don't see how Apple News could be any different.

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

Good!!!

Now lets make it a year now, shall we?

 

[jbright]

Funny how Apple News gets treated like an editorial board when it’s basically a glorified RSS reader with an algorithm and a morning slot. Investors probably care way more about Siri slipping again than who shows up in Apple News today.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Funny how Apple News gets treated like an editorial board when it’s basically a glorified RSS reader with an algorithm and a morning slot. Investors probably care way more about Siri slipping again than who shows up in Apple News today.

- I'm sure drawing the ire of the Trump admin is bad juju in general. Legal or otherwise, they have the ability to really make life miserable for any company they've assigned whatever label soup to.

Doesn't help that these ball-less twats just insta-fold instead of having any fight in them. So funny all these years we have *****-*** Democrats "following the rules" refusing to strong arm anyone because of "optics" then Trump comes in and just shits all over everyone and all these corpos just take it up the ***.

 

[TooQik]

A right-wing research group reports "findings" of left-wing bias.....well colour me surprised!

 

[SRB]

A right-wing research group reports "findings" of left-wing bias.....well colour me surprised!

Actually, it's funny how the tech press always considered "neutral" Just look at the wording...one side is "Far right wing" while the other side is "described as liberal" One is a group of loons, the other is innocent being tarred as "liberal"??? It's not wrong to have a point of view, but it's another to shade the article to support a position.

I have a great idea...How about we leave politics off of the tech site????? Then the authors of these articles won't have to try to hide their contempt for anything that doesn't support their views. And as a bonus, we won't have to read it either Not to mention we'll be saved from both the "conservatives are evil" posts along with the "liberals are crazy" posts that will have nothing to do with the small amount of facts in the article.

 

[JimF1]

- I'm sure drawing the ire of the Trump admin is bad juju in general. Legal or otherwise, they have the ability to really make life miserable for any company they've assigned whatever label soup to.

Doesn't help that these ball-less twats just insta-fold instead of having any fight in them. So funny all these years we have *****-*** Democrats "following the rules" refusing to strong arm anyone because of "optics" then Trump comes in and just shits all over everyone and all these corpos just take it up the ***.

Ok

 

[Beerfloat]

I have a great idea...How about we leave politics off of the tech site?????

That seems naive in an era where the administration has made the culture wars a prominent aspect of tech policy.

 

[raydpratt007]

Here, we have the head of the Federal Trade Commission warning Apple News that its preference for presenting liberal news outlets 'violates federal consumer protection laws and Apple's own terms of service.' And, per the Associated Press, 'Chairman Andrew Ferguson said that while the FTC is not the “speech police,” it does have the authority to protect consumers from material misrepresentations and omissions.'

Apparently, the FTC Chairman is not only making himself the judge of whether the published content of liberal news outlets amounts to 'material misrepresentations and omissions', but he is also demanding that including the published content of conservative news outlets is the necessary remedy. All this, he claims, is also required by Apple News' own terms of service, which the FTC, apparently, has the power to interpret and enforce.

The First Amendment requires the government to show a compelling necessity and no other solution before it can censor free speech based solely on the content of what is said, and allegations of 'material misrepresentations and omissions', as grounds for censorship, are inherently aimed at what is said. Even if we suppose that material misrepresentations and omissions in published news creates a compelling necessity for censorship (because no one can be wrong or partisan), it seems odd to say that Apple News must bear the expense of presenting conservative news outlets which are otherwise available to the public.

The conclusion is that the FTC has overstepped its constitutional restrictions against censoring free speech because it cannot show a specific and compelling necessity to eliminate material misrepresentations and omissions— which are endemic to free speech in general—and because the solution to material misrepresentations and omissions by liberal news outlets is already counter-balanced by the public availability of conservative news outlets. Finally, it is highly doubtful that Apple News' own terms of service specifically require that it present conservative news outlets that may be anathema to Apple's highly educated and deeply opinionated general customer base.