Apple Faces Daily Mail Fury Over Exclusion from Vital News App

The Daily Mail has sharply criticised Apple, calling on regulators to intervene following the tech giant’s refusal to feature the Mail’s articles on its influential Apple News app. The news group alleges Apple is wielding excessive power within the UK news ecosystem, potentially stifling competition and restricting audience access.

Apple News is now the United Kingdom’s most widely used news app, installed as standard on iPhones and integrated into their operating system. According to the Daily Mail’s parent company, DMG Media, more than one in four British adults rely on the app, making it a key channel for publishers eager to reach digital readers.

The Mail says it has been denied access to Apple News despite repeated attempts to join the platform. Apple cited concerns that the Mail’s sheer scale and engaged readership could overwhelm the app’s ecosystem, while also suggesting that adding the publisher might come at the expense of existing partners. DMG Media claims that after initially allowing new publishers to join, Apple later reversed course and effectively stonewalled the Mail’s efforts.

Not being included in Apple News is described by the Mail as an existential challenge. The news group argues its absence is no longer viable given Apple’s dominance, likening the tech company’s control over mobile news distribution to Google’s pivotal influence in online search.

The current dispute comes at a difficult time for the Mail, which is contending with declining traffic from Google after the introduction of AI-driven summaries that have led to a marked drop in search referrals. This double hit from tech platforms has prompted the publisher to accelerate a shift towards digital subscriptions, targeting one million subscribers within three years. The transition has also resulted in major restructuring across editorial operations and significant redundancies.

Apple’s practices have drawn attention from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) under new UK competition regulations. While the CMA’s ongoing investigation does not yet directly address Apple News, the Mail is urging regulators to consider the app’s growing importance and Apple’s increasing gatekeeping power. Both Apple and DMG Media have declined to comment further on the ongoing row.