Fox to investigate sexual harassment claim against TV anchor
PARIS: French presidential candidate and frontrunner Emmanuel Macron said on Monday he would step up efforts to get technology firms such as Google or Facebook to share encrypted content from messaging services with authorities.
Governments around the world are increasingly looking at how they can lean on major US tech companies in their efforts to prevent militant attacks and beef up security, including by asking them to do more to stop hate speech and extremist activities online.
That has sparked a debate over users’ privacy, however.
Macron, a centrist and favored to win France’s twopart election if he makes it to a run-off on May 7, said he would require firms like Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter to rapidly remove any extremist propaganda from their sites.
Outlining his policies on security in France, which has been hit by several deadly Islamist attacks in the past two years, Macron added that he would strengthen measures requiring tech companies to NEW YORK: Fox News parent TwentyFirst Century Fox Inc. said on Sunday it will investigate a sexual harassment claim against TV anchor Bill O’Reilly, who has seen several companies pull their ads from his top-rated news show in the past week.
The investigation comes after a complaint was phoned in to the network’s corporate hotline last week by Wendy Walsh, a former regular guest on Fox’s “The O’Reilly Factor” TV show, and her lawyer, Lisa Bloom, which the two posted to YouTube.
“21st Century Fox investigates all complaints and we have asked the law firm Paul Weiss to continue assisting the company in these serious matters,” the company said in a statement.
Walsh, a psychologist and radio host, said O’Reilly reneged on an offer to secure her a lucrative job on the network after she declined his invitation to join him in his hotel suite after a dinner in early 2013.
“I’m told that they are taking it seriously, and they are going to do the investigation that’s legally required of them,” Bloom told CNN on Sunday.
Fox and O’Reilly have paid $13 million to five women who accused him of sexual harassment, the New York Times reported last weekend. give law enforcement access to encrypted material.
“If I get elected, France will as of this summer undertake a major initiative aimed at the big Internet companies so that they accept a legal framework for requisitions of encrypted services in the context of counter- terrorism efforts,” Macron told a news conference.
He said he wanted to build on this effort alongside other European countries.
British officials demanded last month that tech firms do more to help police gain access to messaging services and track suspects’ communications, after an attack in Westminster, London, where the perpetrator had used encrypted communications.
Germany is planning a new law calling for social networks like Facebook and Twitter to remove hate speech quickly or face fines of up to 50 million euros ($54 million).
Google declined to comment. Facebook, Apple and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment. O’Reilly said in a statement then that he had been unfairly targeted because of his prominence and has not made further comment.
Numerous companies have pulled ads from O’Reilly’s Fox News show since the report, including BMW of North America, Allstate Corp, French pharmaceuticals maker Sanofi SA, direct marketer Constant Contact, men’s clothing company Untuckit and mutual fund operator T. Rowe Price. British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc said it temporarily suspended its advertising.