Apple and Google suppressed more than 100 news stories about scandal-plagued Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner for months, only allowing the truth to surface once the Democrat became a political liability — a censorship-by-omission scheme that left millions of Americans in the dark while an alleged predator campaigned for high office.
The Media Research Center study, first reported by Fox News Digital, found that Apple News and Google News published exactly zero stories between November and May about Platner's controversies — including his Nazi tattoo and offensive Reddit posts — while failing to promote at least 112 stories from conservative outlets that investigated his history. The blackout started after an October poll showed Platner was the Democrat best positioned to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, and lifted only after the New York Times published its May 30 report on Platner's sexting.
MRC President David Bozell didn't mince words: the tech platforms ran a "protection racket" for Platner. "For months, while Platner looked like the one Democrat who could beat Susan Collins, the two most powerful news apps in America buried scandal after scandal," Bozell said. "Then the polls turned, Platner became a liability, and suddenly the blackout ended. News judgment had nothing to do with it."
Google pushed back, telling Fox News the study "mistakes volume of news for bias" and criticized the methodology — checking once daily from a single account. A spokesperson noted Google News updates throughout the day and personalizes results. Apple, for its part, didn't bother responding. That's the standard playbook: deny, deflect, and wait for the news cycle to move on.
Meanwhile, the establishment press was happy to play along. Top Democrats — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ruben Gallego, Ro Khanna — stood by their purported oyster-farmer everyman as the scandals piled up, mortgaging their #MeToo credentials until the sexual assault allegations became impossible to spin.
Two ex-girlfriends ultimately forced the issue. Jennifer Racicot told Politico that Platner drunkenly entered her home without permission and sexually assaulted her in 2021. Lyndsey Fifield told the Washington Post that Platner repeatedly removed condoms during intercourse without her knowledge or consent — a practice known as "stealthing" that's been criminalized in several states. Fifield had previously told the Times that Platner physically abused her, including an incident where he "twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom and held the door closed from the other side so she couldn't get out."
Platner vehemently denies the allegations. He suspended his campaign on July 8, posting on X that "large forces," "corporate media," and the "political establishment" tried to force him out — a convenient narrative from a man who benefited from those very forces burying his scandals for months.
The real question isn't whether Big Tech can tilt the playing field — we know they can, and do. The question is what happens the next time Silicon Valley decides a candidate is too useful to scrutinize. The algorithms aren't neutral. The gatekeepers aren't referees. And the American people are the ones kept in the dark.
