WASHINGTON (TNND) — EXCLUSIVE — The Media Research Center (MRC), a media watchdog group, has accused Apple News and Google News of shielding Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed from “negative headlines” during the Michigan primary, arguing that both platforms failed to cover more than 100 stories about controversies surrounding his campaign.
In documents obtained by The National News Desk, MRC on Thursday said Apple News and Google News did not contain negatively framed articles about El-Sayed after an Impact Research poll found that Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary had “essentially become a two-person race” between El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. (TNND)
In documents obtained by The National News Desk, MRC on Thursday said Apple News and Google News did not contain negatively framed articles about El-Sayed after an Impact Research poll found that Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary had “essentially become a two-person race” between El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens.
“Most Americans don’t look at dozens of news sites every day. They open Apple News or Google News and read what is presented to them,” MRC President David Bozell said in a statement to The National News Desk.
This makes editorial decisions about which stories to publish extremely important, especially when those decisions consistently favor one candidate over another,” Bozell added.
The watchdog group said Apple and Google’s “news blackout” continues as El-Sayed has emerged as the Democratic front-runner and the candidate has “largely avoided scrutiny of his growing controversies and radical policy positions.”
The MRC said that between November 1, 2025 and July 21, 2026, both platforms leaked at least 104 stories from “right-wing media” that focused on El-Sayed’s record, statements and political positions, “despite widely reported controversies.”
The report also found at least 13 articles from left-leaning media outlets that discussed his controversies but were not said to have been promoted in the platforms’ top 20 morning news feeds.
MRC argues that the lack of prominent headlines deprived millions of users, including Michigan voters, of information about El-Sayed as the Senate race intensified.
“Behind El-Sayed’s confident leadership lies a growing list of controversies that receive little attention in the headlines of Apple News and Google News,” MRC said. “Each of the digital news sources published only one story on the Michigan Senate race, but none published a headline focusing on El-Sayed’s scandals.”
DETROIT, MICHIGAN – JULY 18: Medicare for All sign in front of Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at The People V. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and others joined El-Sayed to rally the crowd. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)
National News Service has reached out to Apple News and Google News for comment and is awaiting responses. This story will be updated throughout the day as we receive additional information, feedback from companies and new developments.
Among the issues mentioned by the MRC were issues related to El-Sayed’s description of himself as a doctor. Although he received his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Columbia University and later received his Doctor of Public Health degree from Oxford University, he was reportedly not licensed to practice medicine in Michigan or New York.
Other issues, according to MRC, include his appearances with progressive political commentator Hassan Piker, endorsements from controversial political figures, deleting social media posts, and support for policies such as Medicare for All, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and defunding police departments.
The MRC also pointed to criticism of El-Sayed’s comments about Israel’s war against Hamas, his remarks following the Michigan synagogue attack and statements comparing Oklahoma’s sharia ban to the “Trail of Tears.”
“It is impossible to understand the Sharia ban without understanding the Trail of Tears,” El-Sayed said during a speech to the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in October 2022, according to video obtained by The Washington Free Beacon.”
You cannot understand the problems we face today without understanding white supremacy,” he added. “We have to put this in the context of our history.”
In its report, the MRC cited the following as examples:
- El-Sayed was charged with misrepresenting his professional credentials. Although he holds a doctorate, he often refers to himself as a “doctor” despite the fact that he reportedly does not have the medical license typically required for that title.
- He also came under fire for his relationship with Hassan Piquer, a left-wing streamer who was accused of making anti-Semitic and anti-American statements.
- El-Sayed welcomed support from Arab-American PAC leader Osama Siblani, who has a long history of “blatant” anti-Semitism and defense of Hezbollah and Hamas.
- He also compared Oklahoma’s Sharia law ban to the Trail of Tears, citing both as examples of white supremacy.
- Following the Temple attack, Israel El-Sayed was criticized for attempting to explain away the alleged attacker’s actions by suggesting that Ayman Ghazali may have been motivated by grievances related to Israeli strikes in Lebanon.
- El-Sayed highlighted his 2018 disorderly conduct conviction in connection with his role in the minimum wage protest, seemingly to bolster his “leftist” credentials. He later appeared to brag about the incident, claiming he had served “time” for the charges.
- El-Sayed used “harsh rhetoric” against his political opponents, reworking former first lady Michelle Obama’s “when they fall” speech to say: “When they fall, we don’t rise high. We will throw them into the mud and strangle them.”
- His political agenda places him firmly on the “far left”: Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, defunding police departments and accusing Israel of committing genocide in its war against Hamas.
- El-Sayed also came under fire after he refused to comment on the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying “there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad.”
Several Democratic lawmakers have endorsed El-Sayed ahead of the Aug. 4 primary. Among them are Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
“He is the fighter Michigan needs in the Senate,” Warren said in a video she shared on X on Monday.
“Michigans deserve a senator who will fight for you,” she added, in part.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders also supported him.
“AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs have already spent nearly $50 million to defeat Dr. Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan U.S. Senate primary,” Sanders wrote on X on Tuesday. “We cannot allow oligarchs to buy our elections. One person, one vote.”
El-Sayed listed Warren, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and Sanders along with several other prominent supporters on his website. Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders also campaigned with him at the Detroit Opera House in Michigan on July 18.
Although the MRC described El-Sayed as “a prominent progressive whose politics are closely aligned with democratic socialism”, he distanced himself from the “democratic socialist” label and reportedly has a history of attending Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) events.
El-Sayed reportedly appeared and spoke at six events organized by DSA between 2017 and 2022, including serving as a keynote speaker at a fundraising event in 2019.
The MRC report goes on to compare El-Sayed’s coverage to that of former Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who MRC previously said also received favorable treatment from Apple News and Google News before his polls were rejected.
“Last week, the MRC said that no other politician has benefited more from Apple News and Google News than Graham Platner, the disgraced former socialist candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine,” the MRC said. “New data reviewed by the MRC shows Abdul El-Sayed could rival that record.”
MRC acknowledged that articles mentioning El-Sayed appeared sporadically on both platforms, but said the headlines emphasized broader developments in the Senate race rather than the controversy surrounding his candidacy, adding that “when digital news gatekeepers withhold important information about a candidate, they leave voters without a full picture of the man seeking their vote.”
Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary remains one of the most competitive races in the country, with the winner expected to compete for a seat that could play a key role in determining control of the U.S. Senate.
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THIS STORY WILL BE UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS NEW INFORMATION becomes available.