iPhone users across the country were urged to vote after consulting left-wing media sites on Tuesday.
Apple News’ sent an alert to users that read “This personalized guide has all the information you need.” Clicking the alert then takes user to a page with a “How to vote” tab offering a “personalized guide to casting your ballot.” Users can enter their zip code to find coverage of the elections happening in their area.
Visiting Fellow at the Heritage Foundation Robby Starbuck pointed out that much of the news provided “felt heavily biased in favor of Democrats.”
For several zip codes in battleground areas, the featured coverage highlights Democrat candidates’ accomplishments and opportunities to make history. Meanwhile, Republican candidates are often framed around their association to President Donald Trump and proposed election safeguards are framed as needless.
Apple did not respond by time of publication to questions from The Federalist, such as how it selected its sources for the coverage or whether it uses third-party rating services such as NewsGuard. Notably, Apple has been called out before by media watchdogs as well as the Federal Trade Commission for its preferential promotion of left-leaning media sources.
Consider the coverage featured for voters living in Portland, Maine’s 04101 zip code. The Maine Monitor’s article entitled “2026 Maine General Election Voter Guide,” introduces voters to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree as “the youngest woman in the country to serve as state house speaker.”
The article then highlights Pingree’s legislative accomplishments and frames Pingree as the candidate who, “If elected governor, she [said that she] would work to protect Maine from ‘the overreaches of the Trump administration’ and work to make housing and health care more affordable.”
Republican nominee Bobby Charles got a different introduction.
“Charles’ career was primarily spent in Washington, D.C.” The guide then notes he founded a consulting firm.
For the state’s highly watched Senate race, Democrat Troy Jackson is introduced to voters by highlighting his 20 years in the state legislature.
“Before his time in the Legislature, Jackson was a logger, hailing from Fort Kent. He got his start in politics by participating in a logging blockade protesting the hiring of temporary Canadian workers.”
For incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, she is described as the “longest-serving Republican woman. in the chamber.” The guide also says Collins is on a lot of influential committees and “is known for a number of influential votes in the Senate, including her vote against a partial repeal of the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018.”
Jackson gets a working-man background story who simply got involved in politics because politics came too close to home. Collins’ record is highlighted through two votes on politically contentious topics.
Entering an Ohio zip code brings up an article from NPR affiliate WVXU entitled “The major races and single issue to watch in Ohio this November” which leads with multiple paragraphs regurgitating Democrat talking points about Trump’s unpopularity and Ohio Republican candidates’ “fealty” to the president, who won Ohio by 11 points in his last election.
Trump’s approval rating is “far under water,” the article says, before describing Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Jon Husted as “sticking with Trump, for good or ill. Neither one has gone out his way to put any distance between themselves and an unpopular president.”
Before the readers even meet the Republican candidates, the article has created a lens by which to view the candidates, that is, their failure to distance themselves from Trump.
The article also highlights Ohio’s voter ID amendment in a similar left-wing lens.
Issue 3 (if passed) would amend the state constitution to require photo ID for voting. WVXU notes that “that’s already required to vote, before and on Election Day, and it has been that way since 2023. But the GOP-majority legislature has said that law is not enough.”
Rather than explaining in that passage why a constitutional protection of voter ID matters, the article instead tries to pretend like Republicans are being dramatic in thinking “the law is not enough.”
Voters in Leavenworth, Kansas (zip code 66048), can find an article from The Topeka Capital-Journal that frames the election as a chance to make history — by electing Democrats.
“Kansas voters have the change to break historical trends this election,” the headline reads. “A Democrat winning the U.S. Senate would break a nearly 100-year winning streak by Republicans.”
The article also discussed a proposed constitutional amendment that clarifies only citizens can vote as though it is needless.
“No local government in Kansas has moved to allow noncitizens to vote in their elections, which is why opponents have argued the amendment is a waste of time because it doesn’t change anything,” the article reads. But supporters of the amendment want to prevent local governments from giving noncitizens voting rights in the future (which has been tried in blue cities across the country).
Voters who enter a zip code in Michigan such as 48226 see two articles pop up, one from the Detroit Free Press and one from Bridge Michigan. Bridge Michigan is published by the Center for Michigan, whose founder, Phil Power, is a Democrat, according to Influence Watch. Bridge Michigan is listed as having a left-center bias, according to Influence Watch. Meanwhile The Detroit Free Press is rated Lean Left by AllSides and Left-Center by Media Bias/Fact Check.
Apple News has faced scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over concern about bias in the past.
The FTC had previously sent Apple a warning letter in February about the slant in Apple News. The letter, sent to then-Apple CEO Tim Cook, raised concerns that Apple News “has systematically promoted news articles from left-wing news outlets and suppressed news articles from more conservative publications.” The FTC encouraged Apple to “conduct a comprehensive review of Apple’s terms of service and ensure that Apple News’ curation of articles is consistent with those terms and representations made to consumers and, if it is not, to take corrective action swiftly.”
Apple did not respond when asked by The Federalist whether that review has been completed, or even begun.
Notably, The Media Research Center (MRC) reported Monday that Apple News “has gone from promoting just over a dozen stories from right-leaning outlets (13) in August to sharing a relative few (3) in September.” In August, Apple News reportedly promoted 381 stories from left-wing outlets and just 13 from right-leaning outlets, MRC found.
“Apple has no shortage of conservative journalism to choose from. Apple is choosing to exclude conservative voices and deny its audience anything resembling a balanced news diet,” Media Research Center President David Bozell said in a statement.
Further, according to MRC, it took Apple News “100 days to publish a single story from a right-leaning outlet” on its top 20 morning feed between November 3, 2025 and February 13, 2026. In that same time frame, Apple News “promoted 1,379 stories from left-leaning outlets,” MRC found.
Apple further did not provide comment to The Federalist by the time of publication as to “What changes were made to Apple New’ selection process from August to September?”
