PARIS: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday accused a PR firm with links to French billionaire conservative Vincent Bollore of orchestrating a “vast disinformation campaign” against it.
The Paris-based NGO, known for its work in defending press freedom around the world, said the PR firm, Progressif Media, had set up false websites made to look like that of RSF.
It also sent out messages on X to discredit RSF, the NGO said.
The fake sites included content accusing RSF of trying to censor CNews, the country’s most popular news channel that is regularly accused of promoting far-right views.
Progressif Media, RSF found, is part-owned by Bollore’s telecoms conglomerate Vivendi, and is based on the same premises.
Vivendi also owns CNews and several other news organizations that are seen as shifting France’s media landscape to the right in recent years.
Vivendi, which denies political bias in its news outlets, told AFP it had “no knowledge of possible illegal practices attributed to Progressif Media by RSF.”
However, a spokesperson confirmed Progressif Media had been deployed by a part of its media empire “to counter certain arguments about CNews.”
“We will see what happens next, what choices Vivendi will make now that the facts have been exposed publicly,” said Arnaud Froger, head of RSF investigations.
CNews launched in 2017 and is often compared to Fox News in the United States.
According to RSF, the campaign came shortly after it made a formal complaint calling for stricter oversight of CNews.
Following RSF’s complaint, media regulator Arcom was instructed in February to tighten control over TV and radio stations to ensure balanced political coverage.
Bollore, known for having conservative views, has been gradually buying up many of the most important media companies in France, including film producers Canal+, Paris Match magazine and Europe 1 radio.
Reporters Without Borders says targeted by Vivendi PR firm
https://arab.news/8rgxu
Reporters Without Borders says targeted by Vivendi PR firm
- RSF accused Vivendi’s Progressif Media of running a “vast disinformation campaign” against them, including false lookalike websites and discrediting messages
UAE outlines approach to AI governance amid regulation debate at World Economic Forum
- Minister of State Maryam Al-Hammadi highlights importance of a robust regulatory framework to complement implementation of AI technology
- Other experts in panel discussion say regulators should address problems as they arise, rather than trying to solve problems that do not yet exist
DUBAI: The UAE has made changes to 90 percent of its laws in the past four years, Maryam Al-Hammadi, minister of state and the secretary-general of the Emirati Cabinet, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Speaking during a panel discussion titled “Regulating at the Speed of Code,” she highlighted the importance of having a robust regulatory framework in place to complement the implementation of artificial intelligence technology in the public and private sectors.
The process of this updating and repealing of laws has driven the UAE’s efforts to develop an AI model that can assist in the drafting of legislation, along with collecting feedback from stakeholders on proposed laws and suggesting improvements, she said.
Although AI might be more agile at shaping regulation, “there are some principles that we put in the model that we are developing that we cannot compromise,” Al-Hammadi added. These include rules for human accountability, transparency, privacy and data protection, along with constitutional safeguards and a thorough understanding of the law.
At this stage, “we believe AI can advise but still (the) human is in command,” she said.
Authorities in the UAE are aiming to develop, within a two-year timeline, a shareable model to help other nations learn and benefit from its experiences, Al-Hammadi added.
Argentina’s minister of deregulation and state transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, warned against overregulation at the cost of innovation.
Politicians often react to a “salient event” by overreacting, he said, describing most regulators as “very imaginative of all the terrible things that will happen to people if they’re free.”
He said that “we have to take more risk,” and regulators should wait to address problems as they arise rather than trying to create solutions for problems that do not yet exist.
This sentiment was echoed by Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, who said “imaginative policymakers” often focus more on risks and potential harms than on the economic and growth benefits of innovation.
He pointed to Europe as an example of this, arguing that an excessive focus on “all the possible harms” of new technologies has, over time, reduced competitiveness and risks leaving the region behind in what he described as a “new technological revolution.”
