CBS News drew criticism, mainly from left-leaning commentators, after publishing a report ahead of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks that revisited now-deleted social media posts by Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the US Senate seat in Michigan. Critics accused the network of running an unfair or "Islamophobic" story targeting a candidate who would be the first Muslim Democratic senator, with some linking the coverage to new editorial leadership at CBS's parent company following its takeover by David Ellison. The episode highlights ongoing tension between CBS News and parts of the left since Bari Weiss's appointment as editor-in-chief.

The report cited a 2020 post in which El-Sayed compared 9/11 deaths to Covid-19 fatalities, and a September 2021 post, first surfaced by The Washington Free Beacon, in which he juxtaposed the roughly 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 with an estimated one million lives lost in subsequent US wars in three countries. Prominent figures including Hasan Piker, Mehdi Hasan, Tim Miller, Rep. Yassamin Ansari and Astead Herndon publicly condemned the story as biased or racist. A CBS source told Fox News Digital such coverage of deleted political posts is routine, while El-Sayed, confronted on the campaign trail, called 9/11 "a terrible attack" but urged reflection on US military involvement abroad; CBS News did not respond to a request for comment.