OpenAI <a href="https://help-lb.openai.com/en/articles/11391654-chatgpt-business-release-notes">announced</a> a new ChatGPT plugin on Thursday that allows its AI model to connect to iMessage to read and learn from users&#8217; messages and even send messages on behalf of people. 
“On Apple silicon Macs, the Apple Messages plugin in the ChatGPT desktop app can read and search iMessage, SMS, and RCS conversations and prepare or send messages through Messages,” the company said. 
The company added that ChatGPT will ask users for permission before sending a message: “By default, ChatGPT asks the user to approve the message and recipients before sending. Business workspace admins can disable Apple Messages through the existing Computer Use control.”
However, users could change that setting to allow AI to automatically send messages without approval. OpenAI warns users about allowing that feature and suggests keeping an eye on the chatbot for potential mistakes. The company <a href="https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/plugins">says</a> enabling persistent approval “removes your final chance to review a message before ChatGPT sends it as you. Use it only when you accept that risk.”
The new capability comes as Apple overhauls Siri with a new AI-powered version of its longtime virtual assistant. Apple users have reportedly grown frustrated with Siri as it has fallen behind newer AI tools, prompting the tech giant to pursue a major upgrade. Apple promises its new AI will be “a profoundly more capable and personal assistant with personal context understanding, broad world knowledge, and onscreen awareness.”
One Apple user told The Daily Wire, “I’ve thought about switching to Android because Google’s Gemini is a masterclass. You can have a full conversation with Gemini, getting it to fully explain things to you, but Siri, on the other hand, is very manual and slow.” Google’s Gemini is built into Google’s Android phones. 
The Apple user added that he is looking forward to the new Siri model, saying Apple’s broader ecosystem has kept him from switching to competing products. 
Apple’s promised Siri debut could threaten OpenAI’s new plugin. Historically, Apple has made it difficult for third-party apps to connect to iMessage, arguing that users should have “transparency, consent, and control” over apps accessing their data. Through its new plugin, however, OpenAI appears to have worked around restrictions on gaining direct access to iMessage and used AppleScript and Accessibility paired with user-granted permission to access and control the iMessage app. 
OpenAI launched its new plugin after Apple filed a lawsuit against the company on July 10, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html">alleging</a> that it stole trade secrets and used Apple’s intellectual property to develop its own consumer products. 
OpenAI responded to the lawsuit, saying, “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.” 
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the AI giant’s new plugin.

ChatGPT

Your Friends’ Texts Could Soon Be AI-Generated

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WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump threatened the European Union with &#8220;substantial&#8221; tariffs on Friday after regulators hit Google with another $1 billion antitrust fine, accusing Europe of treating the United States like its own &#8220;PIGGYBANK.&#8221;
Trump accused the EU of &#8220;taking direct aim at GREAT American Companies!&#8221;
&#8220;After having fined Apple, for no reason at all, 15 Billion Dollars, Meta, 3 Billion Dollars, Amazon 2.5 Billion Dollars, and many others, we have just been informed that Google, a truly advanced and amazing group, has been fined yet another 1 Billion Dollars, without explanation,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116976043318889040">posted</a> on Truth Social.
The latest penalty brings Google&#8217;s total EU fines to more than $18 billion, the president said.
&#8220;This illegal and highly discriminatory practice started at these high levels during the first year of the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, but it’s not going to continue during the Trump Administration,&#8221; Trump said, adding: &#8220;The United States of America is not a &#8216;PIGGYBANK&#8217; for Europe, nor will we allow it to be!&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1143205" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-threatens-european-union-after-massive-fines-on-google/president-trump-hosts-2025-world-series-champions-los-angeles-dodgers" rel="attachment wp-att-1143205"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1143205" class="wp-image-1143205 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286736761-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286736761-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286736761-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286736761-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286736761.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>US President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, July 23, 2026. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
Trump warned that the EU&#8217;s actions would trigger a strong response from the United States.
&#8220;Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that we will immediately initiate a 301 Investigation into the practice of &#8216;ROBBING&#8217; American Companies and, in turn, the American Taxpayer,&#8221; Trump wrote. &#8220;The European Union will pay a very big price for this illegal and highly unethical conduct, which I have consistently warned them about.&#8221;
&#8220;The penalties will be entirely reversed and, we anticipate, a substantial TARIFF to be placed on them at the earliest possible moment,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Stay tuned!&#8221;
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.

All-In and Hill & Valley Forum Host “Winning The AI Race”

Trump Threatens European Union After Massive Fines On Google

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Silicon Valley giants Apple and Google largely shielded Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner from negative news coverage, giving the disgraced leftist political cover until his campaign completely imploded, a <a href="https://mrcfreespeechamerica.org/blogs/free-speech/luis-cornelio/2026/07/13/special-report-inside-apple-googles-failed-attempt">new study</a> found.
According to the Media Research Center (MRC), Apple News and Google News, which pull in 215 million monthly hits, largely ignored reports about Platner&#8217;s mounting controversies while he was leading in the polls, then abruptly shifted course after his political fortunes deteriorated.
The MRC’s data exposes an astonishing pattern of censorship by omission. From November 1 through May 30, as Platner campaigned to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins, Apple News and Google News ran a grand total of zero stories in their premier top 20 morning feeds about his disqualifying controversies, despite widespread reporting elsewhere.
According to MRC, stories absent from the aggregators&#8217; featured feeds included reports about:
<ul>
<li data-path-to-node="7,0,0">An SS-style Nazi Totenkopf</li>
<li data-path-to-node="7,1,0">Scrubbed Reddit posts where he proudly declared himself a &#8220;communist.&#8221;</li>
<li data-path-to-node="7,2,0">Online rants attacking law enforcement, degrading rural voters, and using sexist slurs.</li>
</ul>
The only piece of news the aggregators deemed worthy during those critical months was an April 7 Axios article hyped by Google touting Platner’s confidence in the primary, MRC found.
Google and Apple didn&#8217;t just ignore the scandals; they reportedly aggressively muted anyone who reported them. The MRC documented that Apple and Google buried at least 112 significant stories from prominent right-leaning news outlets that were trying to expose the truth.
Then the pattern changed when the numbers turned rotten for the Democrats.
The shift followed a June 30 Fox News poll showing Sen. Collins leading Platner 50% to 47%, with 54% of voters expressing concern about his judgment (38% &#8220;extremely concerned&#8221; and 16% &#8220;very concerned&#8221;).
On July 7 and 8, both aggregators suddenly dumped 12 negative stories about Platner into user feeds, according to MRC.
Platner officially threw in the towel on Wednesday following new allegations of rape and sexual assault. MRC argued the timing showed Apple and Google surfaced damaging coverage only after his campaign collapsed rather than while voters were still deciding whether to support him.

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How Big Tech Kept Graham Platner Looking Like The Good Guy

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This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.
***
Today’s college students probably don’t remember, but when the iPhone first rolled out in 2007, some technology analysts thought it would fail. “There is no likelihood that Apple can be successful in a business this competitive,” wrote a <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-should-pull-the-plug-on-the-iphone">MarketWatch</a> columnist. Microsoft CEO <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2007/04/ballmer-says-iphone-has-no-chance-to-gain-significant-market-share/">Steve Ballmer</a> was even more emphatic: “There&#8217;s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” 
Well, they were wrong, in more ways than one. The iPhone not only became the most popular smartphone in the world, but also helped accelerate the digital transformation of society. The iPhone, and the slew of competitors that followed it, undeniably changed the way we communicate, consume media, and interact with each other. As a new <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310">research paper</a> suggests, it also changed the nature and method of how we form relationships and families as well. 
Observers and commentators have been speculating that smartphones have been affecting marriage and fertility decisions for over a decade now. The argument goes something like this: How can the phones not have had an impact? Staying at home to binge-watch a show has <a href="https://ptbwrites.substack.com/p/hello-netflix-my-old-friend">gotten easier</a> and more enjoyable than when the alternative was reading a novel or schlepping down to the bar. Finding an image or video for sexual gratification has gotten easier than when the nearest X-rated movie was kept behind the counter at the video store. Every airport terminal, cocktail reception, or subway ride — places where we used to mix, mingle, and maybe even meet-cute — is relatively more boring compared to the feeds, podcasts, and videos burning a hole in your pocket. 
In other words, it’s less about the devices themselves than the entertainment and communications alternatives they enable. That’s been the supposition, and now those of us who said smartphones and digital media have changed something fundamental about youth and young adulthood in the 21st century have new empirical grounding for this belief. 
The strength of the new working paper comes from another oft-forgotten detail about the iPhone’s rollout: For the first few years after Apple introduced the new device, you could only get it on the AT&amp;T network. By comparing counties that had AT&amp;T mobile broadband access in the time the iPhone was being rolled out to those that didn’t, researchers Caitlin Myers and Ezekiel Hooper of Middlebury College were able to estimate what increasing iPhone access did to birth rates. 
Taken at face value, their results suggest a meaningful, measurable impact of smartphone access on birth rates. In particular, they find particularly large impacts on young women in their teens and early 20s who lived in areas that were early adopters of AT&amp;T broadband coverage (birth rates among older women were more steady.) If their point estimates are correct, this difference could explain as much as one-third of the decline in fertility over the past two decades. As Myers and Hooper sum up, “the iPhone, and the smartphone era it inaugurated, materially accelerated the post-2007 U.S. fertility decline.” 
None of this is to say that this paper can be taken as gospel. The rollout of 3G broadband service, for example, could be correlated in an unseen way with characteristics that were driving down fertility. (Imagine if the urban neighborhoods that were more likely to be selected for 3G access were also more likely to have young women who were disproportionately likely to turn against motherhood after the Great Recession.) The iPhones in 2007 were far less addictive and immersive than the modern-day versions, with users more likely to be checking e-mail and painstakingly logging into MySpace than getting notifications of new likes and comments. The introduction of the iPhone also coincided with a year of tremendous economic tumult and the near-collapse of the global financial system. 
The researchers try to account for these differences as best they can, by re-weighting the data to account for differences in observable characteristics, but differences that can’t be identified by reviewers (such as cultural norms, local attitudes toward marriage, and other intangibles) could still be causing the paper to look stronger than it is.
Then again, no one research paper will ever be the definitive last word. And what this new work does is give us more evidence (as if more was needed) that the digital revolution is upending the way we interact as humans, something Pope Leo XIV’s new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/an-encyclical-for-the-ages-ai-universities-and-builders-of-humanity">encyclical </a>Magnifica Humanitas explicitly addresses. The specific technology itself is almost immaterial; if Steve Ballmer had been right, and the iPhone had flopped, the introduction of social media, short-form video, and always-on communication, information, pornography, and entertainment on whatever device would have still had an impact on our dating and mating culture. 
At this point, anyone who is arguing that phones didn’t change societal scripts in a meaningful way has the burden of proof. We can feel it in small ways, even if we don’t like it — like Ben Lichtenstein, a 24-year-old interviewed by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/03/31/magazine/quit-smartphone-addiction-social-media.html">New York Times</a> magazine earlier this year. “I’ve noticed that I can’t so much as wait for the elevator without scrolling through TikTok,” he said. “It’s the best distraction. It makes the time pass. But more and more, I’m like: Why do we want the time to pass?” 
We need to try to build tools, habits, and norms that reclaim not just the time in the elevator lobby, but the institutions, rituals, and phone-free meet-ups that used to help couples hit it off. If we don&#8217;t address the impact of digital tech on our family formation decisions, the consequences could be dire.
***
Patrick T. Brown (@<a href="http://www.twitter.com/ptbwrites">PTBwrites</a>) is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he writes on pro-family policy and publishes the Substack newsletter <a href="https://ptbwrites.substack.com/">Family Matters</a>.

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The Family Formation Crisis May Have Started With A Trade Most Americans Gladly Accepted

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According to a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), the real cause of the declining birth rate may be sitting in our pockets — the iPhone.
Detailed in the research paper, Caitlin K. Myers and Ezekiel Hooper investigated the connection between the release of the smartphone in 2007 and the overall decrease in fertility that started the same year.
“The U.S. general fertility rate has fallen by 22% since 2007, a sustained decline not readily explained by economic conditions, contraceptive use, housing or childcare costs, or other commonly cited factors,” Myers and Hooper <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w35310">wrote</a>. “We assess the potential role of a different shock: the diffusion of the smartphone.”
The first rollout of the modern smartphone was initially offered only through AT&amp;T. This allowed them to “identify its effect from variation” based on the company’s coverage. When compared, the fertility decline was observed across all age groups from June 2007 to February 2011.
“Studies imply that access to the iPhone reduced births by 4.5–8.0% at ages 15–19 and 3.2–6.6% at ages 20–24, with statistically significant but smaller declines among older cohorts,” the two stated in the paper.
When performing the same analysis with pre-2011 Sprint and Verizon coverage, the numbers had no correlation, strengthening the argument of the iPhone acting as a new form of birth control. 
Myers and Hooper credit several factors within phone usage for the major impact on the birth rate decrease.
“Overall, the diffusion of the iPhone explains 33–52% of the decline in the general fertility rate among women aged 15–44,” Myers and Hooper concluded in the paper. “National-survey evidence on time use and sexual behavior is consistent with the iPhone reducing in-person interactions, increasing pornography use, and reducing sexual frequency.”
With the advancements of technology we see day by day, there is proof now that it may hinder the population of our country.

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America’s Fertility Crisis Has Astonishing New Link to iPhones, Study Finds

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President Donald Trump said his first interaction with outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook came during his first term when the tech mogul called to get his help with a &#8220;fairly large problem.&#8221;
“I have always been a big fan of Tim Cook, and likewise, Steve Jobs, but if Steve was not taken from the Planet Earth so young, and ran the company instead of Tim, the company would have done well, but nowhere near as well as it has under Tim,” Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post on Tuesday.
The post came a day after Apple announced that Cook would be leaving the company in September after 15 years leading it. Trump said Cook called him at the beginning of his first term asking for his help with a problem.
“He had a fairly large problem that only I, as President, could fix. Most people would have paid millions of dollars to a consultant, who I probably would not have known, but who would say that he knew me well,” Trump said. “The fees would be paid but the job would not have gotten done. When I got the call I said, wow, it’s Tim Apple (Cook!) calling, how big is that? I was very impressed with myself to have the head of Apple calling to ‘kiss my ass.’”
Trump said he thought that Cook was right and got the problem “taken care” of “quickly and effectively.”
“That was the beginning of a long and very nice relationship. During my five years as President, Tim would call me, but never too much, and I would help him where I could,” Trump said, saying he helped Cook three or four times with big issues.
“He makes these calls to me, I help him out (but not always, because he will, on occasion, be too aggressive in his ask!), and he gets the job done, QUICKLY, without a dime being given to those very expensive (millions of dollars!) consultants around town who sometimes get it done, and sometimes don’t,” Trump said. “Anyway, Tim Cook had an AMAZING career, almost incomparable, and will go on and continue to do great work for Apple, and whatever else he chooses to work on. Quite simply, Tim Cook is an incredible guy!!!”
In August 2025, Cook joined Trump at the White House to announced $100 billion in investments in the United States. Cook gifted Trump an Apple logo nameplate with gold base during the meeting.
Under Cook&#8217;s leadership, Apple became a $4 trillion company. He will be replaced by John Ternus, currently the senior vice president of hardware engineering.

President Trump Makes An Announcement In The Oval Office

Trump Remembers Time Apple’s Tim Cook Called To ‘Kiss My Ass’

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The Apple TV series “The Savant,” which was postponed in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, is now apparently going to have its debut.
The series was scheduled to premiere in September 2025, but that all changed after Kirk was shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. “The Savant” follows an undercover investigator, Jodi Goodwin (Jessica Chastain), who infiltrates online hate groups in an attempt to curtail mass terror attacks.
Because this is Hollywood, the main character, who is based on a real person, mostly hunts for woman-hating white supremacists. Daily Wire contributor Christian Toto <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/we-watched-appletvs-cancelled-political-drama-its-clear-why-they-pulled-it">previewed</a> the series and said it was “ripped from a progressive’s fever dream, a tale completely disconnected from today’s headlines.”
“Before it was like, ‘I don’t know if we’re going to see it,’ but now I can say, ‘We’re going to see it,” Chastain <a href="https://variety.com/2026/tv/columns/jessica-chastain-apple-tv-finally-release-the-savant-after-postponement-charlie-kirk-assassination-1236725384/">told</a> Variety at an event on Saturday night. The outlet did not confirm an exact date, but they reported that inside sources said it would happen in July.
Apple TV announced the postponement on September 23. Chastain, who is an executive producer, posted on Instagram the following day that she did not agree with Apple TV&#8217;s decision to pull the show due to Kirk’s assassination. 
“In the last five years since we’ve been making the show, we’ve seen an unfortunate amount of violence in the United States,” she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/apple-postpones-drama-on-political-mass-shootings-following-charlie-kirk-assassination">wrote</a> on social media at the time before going on to list various events, including January 6 and the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump. 
“These incidents, though far from encompassing the full range of violence witnessed in the United States, illustrate a broader mindset that crosses the political spectrum and must be confronted. I’ve never shied away from difficult subjects, and while I wish this show wasn’t so relevant, unfortunately it is. ‘The Savant’ is about the heroes who work every day to stop violence before it happens, and honoring their courage feels more urgent than ever.”

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Leftist ‘Fever Dream’ Series Plows Ahead Despite Massive Conservative Backlash

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Imagine it’s Valentine’s Day at Silicon Valley Middle School. The cafeteria is covered in construction-paper hearts. Everyone pretends not to care — while caring very much. And the most popular kids — the ones who decide who’s cool, who eats lunch alone, and who gets stuffed into lockers — are quietly deciding who deserves a Valentine and who gets the dreaded, “Sorry, we’re just friends.”
Now swap out the middle schoolers for Apple News, Google News, Microsoft’s MSN, and Yahoo News, and you have a pretty good picture of today’s media ecosystem.
Instead of candy grams, these platforms hand out something far more valuable: visibility, traffic, and perceived legitimacy. Algorithms play matchmaker. Editorial choices determine who gets asked to the dance, who goes stag, and who doesn’t even get through the door.
The pattern is hard to ignore.
Research from the Media Research Center examining the “<a href="https://newsbusters.org/blogs/free-speech/heather-moon/2026/02/13/it-took-apple-news-100-days-publish-right-leaning-article">Big 4 News Apps</a>” found that left-leaning outlets dominate coverage, while right-leaning outlets are routinely sidelined or completely buried.
Start with Google News, the alpha dog at the lunch table. Google appears especially fond of The New York Times — not a casual acquaintance, but the kind of devotion that fills a notebook margin with hearts. Between Halloween and Valentine’s Day, Google featured about twice as many New York Times stories (215) as its next most-featured outlets, CNN (122) and the BBC (105). Because Google’s news feed appears by default on millions of Android and Samsung devices, that preference carries enormous national reach.
Looking at 106 days of data since Halloween, Google News promoted 1,757 stories. Almost 70% came from left-leaning outlets, 29% from centrist sources, but just 2% from right-leaning media.
Like Google, Apple News also has a bestie from the print world. The Washington Post receives frequent top placement and prominent visibility. Since Halloween, Apple has featured the Post 109 times. Other regulars in Apple’s rotation include NBC News (89), Reuters (86), and the Associated Press (85).
<div id="attachment_1044207" style="width: 872px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1044207" class="size-large wp-image-1044207" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1132776284-862x576.jpg" alt="CUPERTINO, CA - MARCH 25: Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple product launch event at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park on March 25, 2019 in Cupertino, California. Apple Inc. announced the launch of , it's new video streaming service, and also unveil a premium subscription tier to its News app. (Photo by Michael Short/Getty Images)" width="862" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1132776284-862x576.jpg 862w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1132776284-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1132776284-768x513.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/GettyImages-1132776284.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 862px) 100vw, 862px" />Michael Short/Getty Images</div>
Overall, of AllSides-rated outlets, Apple News featured 75% left-leaning outlets, 25% centrist outlets — and zero right-leaning outlets in the period studied. Zero is on purpose. Zero means being locked out of the dance. Zero is indefensible. 
Next comes Microsoft’s MSN, whose reach comes from its enormous footprint on desktop computers. While its distribution is not quite as disturbing as Apple’s or Google’s, its preferences are still clear. MSN is more than smitten with Newsweek, publishing 316 Newsweek stories between Halloween and Valentine&#8217;s Day. That level of attention would make any publisher blush.
MSN’s mix included about 10% right-leaning outlets and 37% centrist outlets — higher shares than its competitors, but still leaving Left-leaning sources with the largest slice of attention at 53%.
And then there’s Yahoo News. It’s easy to joke about Yahoo, but the platform draws more than 200 million monthly views, something achieved by only three other outlets. Think of Yahoo as the bad boy who got held back a grade but has a date at every party. And Yahoo certainly plays the field.
Yahoo occasionally features right-leaning outlets, but it has a serious thing for smaller, radical outlets — Buzzfeed, Salon, the New Republic, Rolling Stone, Huffington Post and Mediaite.
Yahoo is also unique among the Big 4 in relying heavily on its own in-house reporting. Those stories leaned left and accounted for a large share of featured content (269 stories). Of the 1,715 stories Yahoo promoted in the study period, 88% came from left-leaning outlets (by far the most of any of the news apps), 6% from centrist organizations, and 6% from right-leaning sources.
Defenders of these platforms argue they are simply promoting “mainstream” outlets with proven “reliability.” But Americans aren’t buying that claim. Gallup polling shows trust in national media has never been lower.
There are reasons for that collapse in confidence. Many Americans remember years of breathless coverage of the Russia collusion narrative, the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story, the dismissal of the Wuhan lab-leak evidence, and persistent shielding of President Biden’s cognitive deficiencies. They’ve also watched elitist media advocate aggressively for DEI, ESG and anti-ICE movements — while insisting they are neutral observers.
Distribution is power. A newsroom can produce solid reporting, but Apple, Google, MSN, and Yahoo are clearly trying to control the narrative. The political Left has long understood that institutions shape culture and public opinion. Today, the Big 4 news apps are the institutions: enormously powerful, largely opaque, and virtually unaccountable to the public.
So yes, it’s Valentine’s Day. And in the digital cafeteria, Google, Apple, MSN, and Yahoo are still handing out cards to the favored few and pushing others into lockers.
But another holiday is coming. The Fourth of July is only months away, and federal regulators are examining whether dominant tech platforms have unfairly restricted competition in parts of the media ecosystem. Congress should also continue to investigate the role Big Tech plays in shaping what Americans see and don’t see.
In a free country, the biggest companies should not determine who is allowed into the dance and who is not, who gets a voice and who gets left out in the cold. Freedom must be available to all.
* * *
Dan Schneider is Vice President for Free Speech at the Media Research Center.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Digital NEWS Text Glowing on a Computer Keyboard for Breaking News

The Love Affair Continues: Study Shows Big Four News Apps Still Heart Left-Wing Media

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The House Committee on Homeland Security has asked Google and Apple to detail what steps they are taking to remove mobile applications that allow users to track federal immigration officers.
In letters sent on Friday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple head Tim Cook, committee leaders singled out ICEBlock, an app previously used to monitor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, saying apps hosted on their app stores risk &#8220;jeopardizing the safety of DHS personnel.&#8221; Lawmakers requested a briefing by December 12.
The letters urged Google and Apple to ensure these apps cannot be used to target officers or obstruct lawful immigration enforcement.
The committee noted that while free speech is protected, it does not extend to advocacy that incites imminent lawless action, referencing a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
Google and Apple did not respond to Reuters&#8217; requests for comment.
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The letters follow concerns that these tools allow users to anonymously report and track the movements of federal agents, including those from ICE and Customs and Border Protection.
In October, Google said that ICEBlock was never available on Google&#8217;s Play Store and added it had removed similar apps due to policy violations.
Apple also removed ICEBlock and other tracking apps from its App Store at the time.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the apps &#8220;put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs,&#8221; while Apple cited violations of its policies against content that could harm individuals or groups. The removals followed a surge in downloads of ICEBlock, which had more than a million users before being pulled.
(Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

Apple Will Add 20,000 US Jobs Amid Threat From Trump Tariffs

Republicans Press Google, Apple To Remove Apps That Track Immigration Agents

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This week, more than 100 leading free speech experts <a href="https://adfinternational.org/campaign/open-letter-dsa">warned</a> that the Digital Services Act (DSA), a piece of European Union legislation, threatens to impose online censorship across the world. The letter was addressed to the European Commission, the architect of the censorial law.
The DSA gives the EU authority to enforce “content moderation” on platforms and search engines with over 45 million monthly users. It is one of the most dangerous censorship regimes of the digital age, enabling bureaucrats to control online speech at scale under the guise of online “safety” and “protecting democracy.”
This, however, is far from just a European issue. Restrictive speech rules made in Brussels are increasingly shaping the global internet, including on platforms used by Americans.
The letter follows the recently expressed concerns of the U.S. Ambassador to the EU, <a href="https://x.com/US2EU/status/1973100030249640355">Andrew Puzder</a>, that the DSA threatens to censor American citizens online. As the Ambassador stated, President Trump will not “tolerate a foreign government restricting the First Amendment fundamental free speech, free expression rights of American citizens.”
Ambassador Puzder’s statement came shortly after Google’s startling admission that Europe’s censorship laws target American companies and threaten American speech.
Signatories of this week’s letter to the European Commission, which was coordinated by ADF International, include a former U.S. Senator, a former VP of Yahoo Europe, cross-party members of the European Parliament, award-winning journalist and author Michael Shellenberger, former President of the American Civil Liberties Union Nadine Strossen, and academics, lawyers, and experts from around the globe.
The letter urges the Commission to consult with free speech experts and address their concerns as part of the Commission’s formal review of the DSA, which will occur by November 17.
But how could European legislation affect the First Amendment rights of Americans online?
The DSA and its codes of conduct require online platforms, such as X, YouTube, and Facebook, to address “hate speech” and “disinformation” online. These are vague and subjective terms that lack clear legal definitions and, in practice, are used to justify the censorship of disfavored views.
The definition of “illegal content,” which platforms must remove under the DSA, is any content that breaches EU or any EU member state law. This means the most restrictive anti-free speech laws in any individual EU country — of which there are unfortunately many across Europe — will now be applied across the bloc, introducing a lowest-common-denominator of censorship across the EU.
The shocking case of Finnish parliamentarian <a href="https://adfinternational.org/cases/paivi">Päivi Räsänen</a> gives an example of what this censorship could look like in practice. For nearly seven years, Päivi has been dragged through the courts in her country for alleged “hate speech”, for a Twitter post, in which she peacefully expressed her faith-based views and included a picture of Bible text.
With legal support from ADF International, on October 30, she faces her third trial at the Finnish Supreme Court, despite being unanimously acquitted in two previous trials. Under the DSA, draconian “hate speech” legislation, like that used to prosecute Päivi, could be applied across the EU.
<div id="attachment_981733" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-981733" class="size-large wp-image-981733" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-470183360-864x576.jpg" alt="Chairwoman Päivi Räsänen of the Christian Democrats campaigns in Helsinki, Finland on April 18, 2015 ahead of the parliamentary elections to take place on Sunday, April 19, 2015. Finns go to the polls on Sunday in legislative elections widely expected to oust the country's left-right coalition amid growing discontent over a floundering economy undergoing a painful restructuring. AFP PHOTO / LEHTIKUVA / RONI REKOMAA *** FINLAND OUT *** (Photo credit should read" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-470183360-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-470183360-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-470183360-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-470183360.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Päivi Räsänen/ Credit: Roni Rekomaa,Roni Rekomaa/AFP via Getty Images.</div>
What has emerged from the DSA is a vast censorship infrastructure with coercive enforcement tools and an opaque network of EU-approved NGOs and “trusted flaggers,” which identify content for removal. If platforms fail to quickly remove flagged content, they face enormous fines — up to 6% of global revenue — and even EU-wide suspension. Individuals can also be suspended from platforms if they “persistently” post “illegal content.”
Although nominally restricted to the European Union, the DSA’s restrictive approach to online speech will be exported across the world, including to the United States. Keep in mind that GDPR exported EU data privacy standards worldwide, and the DSA could do just that for European speech controls. Platforms will be incentivized to adopt a single global content moderation policy, which could now be made to comply with the DSA’s restrictive approach.
French Member of the European Parliament Virginie Joron, a signatory of this week’s letter to the Commission, has added to these concerns of global censorship from the DSA, saying: “The French digital regulator ARCOM told me they believe the DSA allows them to censor any post anywhere in the world using the DSA. That means even an American citizen posting in Alabama could potentially have their online post taken down, even if the publication would be legal in the US”.
These threats put European legislation on a direct collision course with the First Amendment, in what is perhaps the greatest threat to American online free speech today.
Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee of the U.S. Congress has consistently warned that the DSA is coming for American speech. A July <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/foreign-censorship-threat-how-european-unions-digital-services-act-compels">report</a> detailed how the DSA is a censorship tool that requires the world’s largest social media platforms to engage in the censorship of core political discourse in Europe, the United States, and around the world.
If the DSA is left unchecked, Brussels could well become the world’s speech police. Let all concerned with the protection of free speech be on alert about the DSA. 
The European Commission must urgently engage with the free speech concerns outlined in this week’s letter and act now to ensure that the free speech rights of people across the world are respected on the internet.
* * *
Paul Coleman (@Paul_B_Coleman) is Executive Director of free speech legal advocacy organization ADF International.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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EU sets Out Its International Digital Strategy

EU’s Digital Services Act Is The Biggest Threat To Free Speech Yet, Experts Warn

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

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Tongues are wagging over Apple TV+ benching “The Savant,” a new series following a hate-crime specialist tracking evil white men.
The Jessica Chastain vehicle was slated to debut on September 26. Now? There’s no new release date set. Why the dramatic move? Apple won’t exactly say, but many have suggested that the show features a Charlie Kirk-like figure painted in a negative light.
Well, we’ve seen the show’s first four episodes, and here’s the ugly truth. The series is ripped from a progressive’s fever dream, a tale completely disconnected from today’s headlines. Far from being awash in right-wing violence, we’re seeing the Left rise up in repulsive fury, from the assassination of Charlie Kirk to repeated attacks on ICE facilities and officials. And let’s not forget not one but two assassination attempts on Donald Trump.
Even The Atlantic and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/09/28/left-wing-terrorism-far-right-violence-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Axios</a> begrudgingly admit political violence is now a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/09/charlie-kirk-left-wing-terrorism/684323/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Left-leaning problem.</a> So does <a href="https://x.com/SenFettermanPA/status/1972331631622185255" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.</a>
That makes “The Savant’s” release problematic, to use the Left’s vernacular.
Chastain plays Jodi Goodwin, an anti-hate specialist going digitally undercover to smoke out a network of white racists. She’s supposed to be so good at her job that she’s nicknamed The Savant. But really, she just knows how to use Google and impersonate a racist online.
She also poses as someone who happily rapes innocent women to impress would-be collaborators. The first few episodes find Jodi trying to earn the trust of a white supremacist (Pablo Schreiber) gathering a team to commit future violence.
We’re also shown many budding white supremacists glued to their phones to get their latest marching orders.
“The Savant” checks plenty of identity politics boxes. Our heroine is in an interracial marriage. Her boss, played by Michael Patrick Thornton, uses a wheelchair (as does the actor off-screen). Her good friend (Dagmara Dominczyk) is a lesbian about to have her first child with her partner. We even get a brief lecture on climate change. The far-left Southern Poverty Law Center, which <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-slams-splc-labelling-094021230.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAF9fz-2bDSEpBRzMDd4UR-7ykCkPfQfpu70OuyRrt3j4byjEGiYJ3tGZZOMNgKx5mQICLWu2lzofdi-_5RFeduexyS7EZfd74zFjiJkwBUN-GTzEmNG613Ev4_ZAoYBEHxv4XH70AONldMD0nHVsHaRm4uZa-6iw905c5TO7gsOH" target="_blank" rel="noopener">targeted Turning Point USA</a> in recent years, also gets a shout-out.
The villains, of course, are uniformly white. They hate Jews, illegal immigrants, and people of color. They’re also not very bright, trusting people outside of their inner circle in ways that could easily lead to trouble.
Jodi’s choice of subjects is odd for someone trying to stop violent attacks across America. Has she read the news lately? Heck, you could write a whole season focusing on academia’s radical, pro-Palestinian movement or Antifa. Alas, the first four episodes of the eight-part series show nothing beyond evil white supremacists.
Of course, Hollywood would never make a story implicating progressive radicals. With few exceptions, celebrities won’t even bring up academia’s ghoulish Hamas-friendly protests.
“The Savant” isn’t tagging the on-screen villains as conservatives, per se. There are no sucker-punch style markers like red MAGA hats or Ted Nugent concert tees. Party labels aren’t included here, either, and Jodi’s husband (Nnamdi Asomugha) is an active military member. That restraint is surprising, but audiences will connect enough dots on their own.
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has had second thoughts about releasing violent content due to current events. The 2020 film “The Hunt” got bumped based on its incendiary subject matter and recent mass shooting headlines around its initial 2019 release date. The film followed a band of progressive elites hunting conservatives for sport.
The actual film wasn’t as bombastic as that plotline suggests, finding fault on both sides and attacking our growing partisan fury. It proved controversial enough to coax Universal to delay its release, and President Trump’s <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/03/10/the-hunt-controversy-explained-why-trump-hates-this-movie/5003993002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comments</a> on the film fanned the flames.
More recently, Comedy Central <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/charlie-kirk-south-park-pulled-comedy-central-1236515229/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled a recent episode</a> of “South Park” satirizing Kirk. The late conservative icon had seen the show in question and praised it, proving he had a better sense of humor than his critics imagined.
Some media outlets did the ol’ “just asking questions” bit regarding “The Savant’s” benching, suggesting fear of President Trump forced Apple to delay the show’s release. That came after media outlets falsely blamed the president for removing Jimmy Kimmel from his ABC late-night perch.
There’s zero proof of that, but the chin-stroking speculation happened all the same. Here’s Variety, admitting it’s <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/columns/apple-postponing-savant-charlie-kirk-huge-mistake-1236527471/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">making up the Trump connection</a> in its opening paragraph.
In a shocking decision, Apple TV+ has postponed the premiere of the Jessica Chastain drama series “The Savant,” offering another chilling example of how business giants are running scared of the Trump administration, and bowing to pressure before it even exists [emphasis added]. The series had been scheduled to premiere on September 26.
Maybe we need a series about serial media malfeasance. That could be released on virtually any date these days and retain its relevance.
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic, and editor of <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

We Watched AppleTV+’s Cancelled Political Drama. It’s Clear Why They Pulled It.

Apple has pulled apps used to expose the whereabouts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country to help illegal immigrants avoid arrest, which critics say have helped attackers target the agents.
The move comes after it was revealed that the anti-ICE <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tragic-irony-federal-officials-say-dallas-shooter-wanted-to-kill-ice-agents-not-detainees?author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Tragic+Irony%E2%80%99%3A+Federal+Officials+Say+Dallas+Shooter+Wanted+To+Kill+ICE+Agents%2C+Not+Detainees">shooter</a> who opened fire on an agency facility in Dallas last month used the app before the attack. Two detainees were killed, while a third was injured as a result of the shooting.
Such threats to law enforcement led Attorney General Pam Bondi to instruct officials at the Justice Department to pressure Apple to take the anti-ICE app down, Fox News Digital <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/apple-takes-down-ice-tracking-app-after-pressure-from-ag-bondi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
<div id="attachment_905191" style="width: 1210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905191" class="wp-image-905191 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/GettyImages-2208409930-scaled-e1744207417219.jpg" alt="HONG KONG, CHINA - 2025/04/06: Apple logo hangs inside Apple store in Hong Kong. U.S. reciprocal tariffs sent shockwaves to global financial markets. Apple's extensive supply chain in China are facing significant disruptions, as share prices of major contract manufacturing partners Goertek, Luxshare, Lens technology continuing to drop since the new tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump last week." width="1200" height="800" />May James/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</div>
“We reached out to Apple today demanding they remove the ICEBlock app from their App Store — and Apple did so,” Bondi told the outlet.
“ICEBlock is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs, and violence against law enforcement is an intolerable red line that cannot be crossed. This Department of Justice will continue making every effort to protect our brave federal law enforcement officers, who risk their lives every day to keep Americans safe,” she said.
Following the recent Dallas attack, Marcos Charles, ICE’s Acting Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, called out the anti-ICE <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/liberal-media-highlighted-anti-ice-apps-a-murderer-used-the-apps-to-kill">apps</a> for serving as a “casting call to invite bad actors to attack law enforcement officers.”
“It’s no different than giving the hit man the location of their intended target, and this is exactly what we saw happen in Dallas yesterday,” Charles said during a press conference last month.
Some mainstream media outlets have amplified the apps despite receiving warnings that “it would only lead to more attacks on law enforcement,” said Charles.
“We truly wish we didn’t have to say we told you so, but here we are,” he said.
<div id="attachment_976553" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-976553" class="wp-image-976553 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2236768950.jpg" alt="Officers respond after a shooter opens fire on an ICE facility in Dallas." width="1024" height="538" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2236768950.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2236768950-300x158.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2236768950-768x404.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Officers respond after a shooter opened fire on an ICE facility in Dallas. (Photo by Stewart F. House/Getty Images)</div>
Apple confirmed it took ICEBlock and “similar apps” down from its app store in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“We created the App Store to be a safe and trusted place to discover apps. Based on information we’ve received from law enforcement about the safety risks associated with ICEBlock, we have removed it and similar apps from the App Store,” Apple said.
ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron said he was “incredibly disappointed by Apple&#8217;s actions today.”
“Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move,” Aaron said. “Apple has claimed they received information from law enforcement that ICEBlock served to harm law enforcement officers. This is patently false.”
The anti-ICE app still functions for users who already downloaded it before its takedown from the store.
ICEBlock first came under scrutiny in June after CNN promoted the app on air. ICE officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-officials-slam-cnn-for-promoting-app-that-helps-illegals-dodge-federal-agents">slammed</a> the network for promoting the app, arguing that it would put ICE agents in danger.
“CNN’s promotion of an ‘ICE spotting’ app is reckless and irresponsible,” ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons said at the time. “Advertising an app that basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs is sickening.”
“CNN is willfully endangering the lives of officers who put their lives on the line every day and enabling dangerous criminal aliens to evade U.S. law,” he added.
“It’s only a matter of time before ICE officers are going to be ambushed by some nut, like what happened in L.A., throwing a Molotov cocktail, throwing bricks at these officers,” White House Border Czar Tom Homan said at the time. “This is just disgusting at every level, so I hope DOJ dives in this deeply, because ICE is concentrating on public safety threats and national security threats.”

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Apple Pulls ICE Tracking Apps Amid Widespread Attacks On Immigration Agents

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