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France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

reuters.com

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Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#221

Post by comex »

close04 wrote: post #186
humanrebar wrote: post #98

The headline probably needs qualification that the fine was in Europe, not the U.S. I was shocked that any U.S. regulator would attempt to push against the First Amendment in this way. It's a different story with more context.

> push against the First Amendment This isn't a freedom of speech issue since obviously they were free to say whatever they wanted, lies and misinformation included. This doesn't imply freedom from consequences. Causing a company to lose 18% value because they couldn't be bothered to verify is negligence, incompetence, or malice (or a combination) not freedom of speech and it's only fair to receive a fine. Bloomberg…

It is a freedom of speech issue, at least from a US perspective. Whether newspapers can be held liable for inadvertently publishing false information was the exact issue at hand in New York Times v. Sullivan, a case which is one of the foundations of modern First Amendment jurisprudence. It held that, in almost all circumstances, they cannot.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#222

Post by decebalus1 »

swebs wrote: post #49
singularity2001 wrote: post #17

Doesn't this violate the freedom of speech?

The French constitution does not guarantee Freedom of Speech. That is a uniquely American thing.

American exceptionalism is a uniquely American thing. Freedom of speech in the constitution is not. Even Cuba has freedom of speech guaranteed by the constitution.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#223

Post by mcrae »

greatpatton wrote: post #218
Scoundreller wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since French highways often refuse non-EU credit cards at their toll booths, they have a special place in my heart.

A little bit like US Gas station I suppose?

Don’t think so. I’ve used Korean, French, and Canadian cards with no issues in the US at gas stations.

Meanwhile, good luck getting gas or paying tolls in France without a French or other EU card.

French companies are also terrible at accepting non-French SEPA zone accounts. By law, they should accept all IBANs but their websites bork when it’s not French. Infuriating.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#224

Post by humanrebar »

calcifer wrote: post #210
humanrebar wrote: post #98

The headline probably needs qualification that the fine was in Europe, not the U.S. I was shocked that any U.S. regulator would attempt to push against the First Amendment in this way. It's a different story with more context.

> The headline probably needs qualification that the fine was in Europe I think the first word of the title, France, is a giveaway here.

That was since added.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#225

Post by humanrebar »

scarejunba wrote: post #199
humanrebar wrote: post #98

The headline probably needs qualification that the fine was in Europe, not the U.S. I was shocked that any U.S. regulator would attempt to push against the First Amendment in this way. It's a different story with more context.

If you think the 1st Amendment protects you from the SEC universally then you're in for a shock.

The relevant question is whether it protects Mike Bloomberg, who presumably has better lawyers.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#226

Post by blackflame »

davvolun wrote: post #209
blackflame wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Journalism and Software are not the same. Would you make the same argument that software on the 737 Max should be shipped and then fixed later? Absolutely not. Journalists need to understand that what they write has real-world impact and can actually lead to lot of unnecessary anguish if they publish things that are not true. Truth should always be paramount to speed in journalism. You can't always correct your m…

> Would you make the same argument that software on the 737 Max should be shipped and then fixed later? No, I wouldn't, but that goes to why not ALL software should be agile, not that it's best to have some journalism be "agile." I was going to mention space flight regarding software mistakes ( https://itsfoss.com/a-floating-point-error-that-caused-a-dam... ), but figured it was more of a digression than it was on-to…

But all journalism has the potential to become viral and once that happens you will never be able to fix the damage you've already done.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#227

Post by Keverw »

Interesting, didn't know press releases were vetted. I always figured they are just copied and pasted since there's sites where you can pay to syndicate them but not sure how legit that stuff is since never issued a press release, and with many companies running their own blogs wonder if it's even worth doing them anymore?

Also kinda reminds me of the lawsuit in Ohio against Facebook. A charter school ran ads, and messed up their attendance count, so other school districts are sueing Facebook trying to recover funds they thought should of went to their school districts instead, which seems like an interesting case but no updates on it in like 6 months, so not sure what the progress is on the case.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#228

Post by ur-whale »

As an FYI, Vinci is one of the most corrupt companies in France [1], and one of the largest beneficiary of the French equivalent of US pork barrel [2][3][4].

(links are to French language articles)

[1] https://reporterre.net/Les-dix-casseroles-de-Vinci-betonneur...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_barrel

[3] https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/03/DE_LA_CASINIERE/54...

[4] https://www.challenges.fr/challenges-soir/veolia-vinci-bouyg...

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#229

Post by mthoms »

greatpatton wrote: post #218
Scoundreller wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since French highways often refuse non-EU credit cards at their toll booths, they have a special place in my heart.

A little bit like US Gas station I suppose?

The only problem I've ever encountered was when US pumps demanded a zip code. Of course, I'd just enter the only US zip code I knew of (90210). It usually worked.

I've since learned that you can use 00000 but that's not nearly as fun!

I've also grown accustomed to using 867-5309 (Jenny) when asked for a phone number to get grocery store "member" prices when I don't want to sign up. It works a charm.

Re: France's AMF watchdog fines Bloomberg €5M over Vinci hoax

#230

Post by Scoundreller »

mcrae wrote: post #223
greatpatton wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little bit like US Gas station I suppose?

Don’t think so. I’ve used Korean, French, and Canadian cards with no issues in the US at gas stations. Meanwhile, good luck getting gas or paying tolls in France without a French or other EU card. French companies are also terrible at accepting non-French SEPA zone accounts. By law, they should accept all IBANs but their websites bork when it’s not French. Infuriating.

It’s usually a pay-at-pump issue. Paying inside has always worked for me when US pumps rejected my non-US card.
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