Microsoft’s MSN displayed a surprising streak of neutrality over Memorial Day weekend, achieving almost perfect balance on MRC’s Digital News Tracker. But before you pat MSN on the back, or trust it to curate your news feed, a closer look reveals an uglier story.
For the first time since November 2025, when MRC began charting the Big Four News Apps, one of the news aggregators managed to maintain a four-day running average that did not lean left, utilizing AllSides media bias ratings. MSN played the center line between May 23 and May 26, balancing its feed between articles from left-leaning sources such as HuffPost, MS Now, The Independent, and Time, and right-leaning outlets. MSN achieved a 5.02 average rating on a scale of 0-10 (a “5” rating reflects ideological equilibrium).
While the news aggregator normally follows its competitors’ trend of publishing mostly left-leaning articles with a couple of token right-leaning articles, for a short stint, MSN rose above the others. MSN’s scores on the Digital News Tracker hovered near the center, even leaning right with a score of 6.39 on May 25.
“I wish we could say that MSN gets a gold medal today,” said MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider. “We are happy that it has demonstrated that right-leaning outlets deserve inclusion, but half measures don't merit a standing ovation. We will not be satisfied until MSN and the other news apps stop discriminating against quality journalism.”
But the numbers don’t tell everything, and the content of the articles published revealed that MSN did not abandon its bias. Among the 15 articles from right-leaning outlets, only three covered political topics. By contrast, nearly 43% of the 23 stories from left-leaning outlets covered hot-button political issues ranging from Trump administration policies to the war in Iran.
Microsoft’s MSN chose to showcase non-political headlines from right-leaning sources that covered lifestyle news and small-scale celebrity gossip. The headlines included:
- “Elizabeth II put cream before jam on scones, Prince William reveals,” by The Telegraph promoted May 25.
- “Scarlett Johansson, who earned $43 million in 2025, says life is a constant ‘deficit’ at home,” by Fox News promoted May 24 and 26.
- “Dutton Ranch star Cole Hauser reveals rattlesnake discovery that shut down production during Texas shoot,” by Fox News promoted May 21, 22, and 24.
- “Cruise cabin door decorations spark fierce reaction after one company issues new crackdown at sea,” by Fox News promoted May 25 and 26.
Standing opposite to the articles from right-leaning media were headlines from the left-leaning media that covered political topics:
- “Did Republicans Call 1-800-Dial-a-Spine? Nicolle reacts to GOP Revolt Against Trump Slush Fund,” by MS Now promoted May 23.
- “Trump got asked about Black voters losing representation and what he said was so unguarded it felt like a confession and the statehouses proved it,” by the Atlanta Black Star promoted May 23.
- “This omission in Todd Blanche’s testimony says so much about the Trump Justice Department,” by MS Now promoted May 24.
- “Trump breaks silence after GOP revolt over his $1.8B ‘slush fund’,” by The Independent promoted May 23.
- “Trump’s green card changes could force hundreds of thousands to leave the US Here’s what to know,” by Time promoted May 24.
- “The Trump administration wants you to drink whole milk–here’s what actual health experts want you to know,” by HuffPost promoted May 26.
And while the Digital News Tracker score for MSN did have a balanced four-day average, it fell back to earth with a score of 3.08 the very next day, a day in which it failed to publish a single article from a right-leaning source. Microsoft’s MSN proved that a neutral news feed is possible, but there is much room for improvement.
Methodology: During the time period May 23-27, 2026, MRC researchers examined the top 20 stories featured on Microsoft’s MSN each day at approximately 8:30 AM ET. MRC researchers used the AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize an outlet as “left,” “lean left,” “center,” “lean right” or “right” to determine the overall bias presented by MSN and analyzed the results.
