An 11-count grand jury indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center exposed serious allegations against one of the country’s most radical left-wing organizations. However, its visibility across the Big Four News Apps, which collectively reach well over 100 million Americans every week, told a different story.
On Apr. 21, 2026, a grand jury in Alabama indicted the SPLC for “11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.” In addition to these charges, the grand jury indictment accused the SPLC of sending millions of dollars to members of hate groups, including over $270,000 to one of the organizers of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, NC. 
After news of the grand jury indictment rocked the decades-old leftist institution, three of the nation’s largest news aggregators (Google News, Microsoft’s MSN and Yahoo News) ignored the story altogether in their top stories in the mornings after the scandal broke. And while Apple News did highlight news of the bombshell indictment, it only featured two stories about the scandal in the five days after the story broke—both from left-leaning media outlets.
MRC’s Findings of the Big Four News Apps’ Top 20 Morning Editions from April 22 - 26:
- Google News, Microsoft’s MSN and Yahoo News effectively shielded the SPLC from scrutiny by keeping the indictment out of their top coverage. Of the 255 articles from AllSides-rated outlets promoted across the three news aggregators, zero mentioned the SPLC scandal in their headlines.
- The three digital news gatekeepers did manage to promote plenty of human interest and anti-Trump articles, however. Stories included accusations that President Donald Trump is losing MAGA support and that he could be banned from naming buildings after himself; pro-Democrat stories, like speculation that the Democrats could tip Georgia’s midterm election and how Democrat Virginia voters narrowly approved a redistricting referendum; and stories about the British royal state visit, domesticated animal antics and the arrest of a soldier for so-called insider trading via Polymarket.
- Only Apple News mentioned the SPLC scandal in its headlines.
- The Big Four News Apps could have promoted a number of stories on the SPLC scandal from AllSides-rated right-leaning outlets, including Fox News, the New York Post, the Daily Mail, Breitbart News, Newsmax and others, but they chose not to.
“Of course the Big Four News Apps went all but mum on a major leftist scandal involving the SPLC,” said MRC President David Bozell. “Far be it for the tech giants to undermine one of the left’s favorite excuses for silencing conservative speech: accusing dissenters of racism and hate. Even when Apple News did include stories mentioning the SPLC’s indictment, it used articles that attempted to circle the wagons for the leftist narrative.”
Three News Aggregators Entirely Ignored SPLC Scandal
Three news aggregators did not highlight even one article about the disgraced SPLC. Neither Google News, Microsoft’s MSN nor Yahoo News featured any stories about the left-wing organization’s scandal in their top stories in the mornings following the grand jury indictment.
Out of 255 stories from AllSides-rated outlets, zero mentioned the SPLC, but the news aggregators still left plenty of room for human interest and anti-Trump stories. Here are a sampling of headlines that each of the three digital news gatekeepers ran instead of finding room for a single story about SPLC:
On Google News:
- “Instead of civil war, a naked mole rat colony changed queens peacefully,” by NPR, promoted on Apr. 22.
- “Trump compliments outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook, but adds vulgar insult,” by The Mercury News, promoted on Apr. 23.
- “American soldier arrested over Polymarket wagers tied to Maduro’s capture,” by Politico, promoted Apr. 24.
- “I moved 1,500 miles to be with my deported husband,” by the BBC, promoted on Apr. 25.
- “California’s wildlife bridge became a target for the right. Now it’s eyeing the finish line,” by The Guardian, promoted Apr. 25.
- “Royal visit to Washington set against rising UK–US tensions,” by NPR, promoted on Apr. 26.
On Microsoft’s MSN:
- “I retired in the No. 1 country Americans want to move to most—I don’t regret it: ‘We save about $5,000 per month,’” by CNBC, promoted Apr. 22.
- “Trump could be banned from naming buildings after himself,” by Newsweek, promoted on Apr. 23.
- “Trump approval rating flips with religious voters in GOP stronghold,” by Newsweek, promoted on Apr. 23.
- “Here’s why most people think tipping has gotten out of hand,” by USA Today, promoted Apr. 24.
- “Democrats try to blunt Trump in Cuba — before it’s too late,” by USA Today, promoted Apr. 25.
- “Husky and chihuahua have puppies together, hearts melt at adorable results,” by Newsweek, promoted on Apr. 26.
On Yahoo News:
- “Sweden's secondhand clothing swaps offer a trendy way to cut environmental waste,” by Yahoo News, promoted on Apr. 22.
- “Could Democrats win Georgia? Polling shows momentum ahead of midterms,” by USA Today, promoted on Apr. 23.
- “Texas Roadhouse to open new large-format restaurant, hire 200 workers,” by USA Today, promoted Apr. 24.
- “Meet the cat and dog rescued by a drone from the Ukrainian front line,” by CNN, promoted on Apr. 25.
- “Buckingham Palace says discussing King Charles' visit with US after Washington shooting,” by Reuters, promoted on Apr. 26.
Apple News Featured Two Stories from Leftist Outlets to Spin SPLC Scandal
Apple News stood alone in highlighting the SPLC scandal, though it promoted a mere two stories out of 89 stories from AllSides-rated outlets among its top morning headlines in the five days following news of the indictment.
On Apr. 22, Apple News highlighted a story from leftist NBC News among its top daily headlines: “DOJ indicts Southern Poverty Law Center on wire and bank fraud charges.” And while the story did cover the scandal, NBC News made sure to heavily feature statements from SPLC’s interim CEO Bryan Fair in response to the indictment. Before even getting to the quoted statements made by FBI Director Kash Patel—who was given mere sentence fragments as quotes—NBC News reported that Fair claimed the leftist group was being “‘targeted’ by the Trump administration,” and that the organization was “outraged by the false accusations.” In all, NBC News devoted an equal number of paragraphs to SPLC’s Fair as it did to Patel and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
On Apr. 23, Apple News featured a second SPLC story, this time from USA Today, that drew a false equivalence between the actions of law enforcement and those of the nonprofit SPLC: “FBI: SPLC paid informants without donors knowing. Feds pay them too.” The article implied that because the FBI has paid informants to infiltrate extremist organizations for decades, it is fine for the SPLC to do the same. The USA Today article made little to no distinction between the two instances. Not much unlike the NBC News piece, USA Today spun the narrative as favorable to SPLC as possible. The left-wing rag even quoted a so-called expert to explain away the money-laundering charges, suggesting such allegations are “ridiculous” because “[t]he alleged use of fictitious business entities to pay informants makes perfect sense…because it ensured the sources weren’t receiving money directly from the SPLC that could possibly be traced.”
The digital news gatekeepers could have chosen to balance the biased USA Today headline with an opinion piece that the left-leaning national newspaper ran on the same day headlined, “I was suspicious of the SPLC. I was right to be.” Instead, Apple News chose to stick with its leftist agenda and highlight only the leftist biased stories.
The Big Four News Apps Could Have Promoted Stories on SPLC Scandal from Right, But Didn’t
The Big Four News Apps had ample opportunity to promote numerous stories on the SPLC scandal from AllSides-rated right-leaning outlets, but they chose not to do so.
Four of the top-50 Press Gazette right-leaning outlets covered the Trump Department of Justice’s indictment of the SPLC, in multiple stories. To name just a few, examples of the stories the Big Four News Apps ignored include the following:
- Fox News wrote, “DOJ says Southern Poverty Law Center funneled $3M+ to white supremacist and extremist groups like the KKK;”
- New York Post wrote, “DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud for paying white supremacist groups $3M to ‘stoke racial hatred;”
- Breitbart News wrote, “Southern Poverty Law Center Indicted On Federal Fraud Charges Related To Past Use of Paid Informants;”
- Newsmax wrote, “Southern Poverty Law Center Indicted on Federal Fraud Charges.”
- Additionally, the Daily Mail wrote, “Woke Southern Poverty Law Center charged with fraud by DoJ as anti-racism nonprofit is accused of secretly giving cash to white supremacists including KKK members.”
None of those stories made the top 20 morning editions on the Big Four News Apps during the period covered.
Methodology: From Apr. 22 through Apr. 26, the Media Research Center examined the top 20 stories featured each day on the Big Four News Apps — Apple News, Google News, Microsoft’s MSN, and Yahoo News — at approximately 8:30 AM ET. MRC specifically searched for the terms “Southern Poverty Law Center” and “SPLC,” in addition to a manual review in search of SPLC-related stories to identify potential stories relevant to this special report.
