Apple admits it accidentally gave inaccurate data to publishers about traffic on its Apple News app

Apple says that it accidentally provided publishers with inaccurate data about traffic from its Apple News app and it undercounted the number of people who were reading stories, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Apple released its News app last year as part of its iOS 9 software update. The app brings together news and content from lots of publications that choose to be listed on the platform.

However, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple undercounted the number of people viewing stories on Apple News.

"We're in the process of fixing that now, but our numbers are lower than reality," Apple executive Eddy Cue said. "We don't know what the right number is." Cue did say, however, that 40 million people have used the Apple News app since launch.

Publications such as Business Insider, Vice, and The New York Times all include their content on the Apple News app. If they sell ads on the content themselves then they can keep 100% of the revenue, but they can also choose to let Apple sell ads, giving them 70% of the revenue.

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