Fox News execs accused of hacking host who alleged sexual harassment
Fox News has a whole new problem on its hands — and it could cost its owners a $14 billion deal.
Fox News executives have been accused of conducting a social media harassment campaign and hacking into the computer of a former host for the channel, who alleged sexual harassment against the channel's ousted CEO Roger Ailes.
Andrea Tantaros, who hosted "The Five" on Fox News, made the accusations in a lawsuit filed on Monday (lawsuit posted below). In the suit, Tantaros alleges that spyware was installed on her computer after she made claims about the behavior of Ailes and former host Bill O'Reilly. Fox News let go of both men over numerous sexual harassment allegations — moves that came after legal settlements of ten millions of dollars were reportedly used to quell complaints against the two men and pay them to leave the network.
"A person working for Fox News was responsible for hacking Ms. Tantaros’s computer so that she could be spied upon," the lawsuit states.
Tantaros also claimed that Fox News was responsible for a variety of fake social media accounts that harassed her.
A lawyer for Fox News denied the allegations.
“Fox News and its executives flatly deny that they conducted any electronic surveillance of Ms. Tantaros. They have no knowledge of the anonymous or pseudonymous tweets described in her complaint. This lawsuit is a flimsy pretext to keep Ms. Tantaros and her sexual harassment claims in the public eye after the State Supreme Court directed her to bring them in arbitration," law firm Dechert, LLP wrote in a statement, sent to Mashable by a Fox News spokesperson.
The hacking accusation is particularly important, given the sordid history of the companies involved. Fox News is owned by 21st Century Fox, which was perviously under News Corporation—headed by chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. Newspapers in the United Kingdom owned by News Corporation were embroiled in a phone hacking scandal in the early 2010s, which still resonate in its business to this day. The timing of the allegations couldn't be worse for News Corp, given that it's currently in the middle of trying to seal a $14 billion deal to takeover Sky, a major European broadcast company.
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The recent scandals with Fox News haven't helped, with media insiders pointing to the release of Ailes and O'Reilly as evidence that the sons of Rupert Murdoch, who now run much of the family's business, are looking to clean up their companies' images so that the deal will go through.
Fox News, co-president Bill Shine and executive vice president of corporate communications Irena Briganti are named in the lawsuit along with Ailes, as well as Fox News contributor Pete Snyder and his company Disruptor Inc.
The lawsuit accuses Shine and Briganti in particular of "illegal electronic surveillance." Both remain employed by Fox News, and then using information gained from the surveillance to harass Tantaros on social media.
One of the examples in the lawsuit centers on the Tantaros's deceased brother.
The lawsuit can be read in its entirety below.
UPDATE: This case was dismissed in May 2018.
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
