The Times - UK (2020-07-31)

(Antfer) #1

the times | Friday July 31 2020 2GM 19


News


The St Andrews University fraternity at


the centre of rape allegations claimed


that it is in danger of becoming a victim


of “cancel culture” and that members


are being tried by social media.


An investigation began after almost


100 accounts of sexual assault and har-


assment were posted on a social media


account at St Andrews, alma mater of


the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.


The claims involve a chapter of Alpha


Epsilon Pi (AEPi), a Jewish society


founded in New York in 1913. The


fraternity confirmed that it had sus-


pended some members and insisted


that wrongdoers would be expelled. It


acknowledged that women have come


The sharp tactics employed by the
world’s largest technology companies
to cement their dominance over the
digital economy have been revealed in
documents released by US politicians.
Facebook adopts a “copy, acquire,
and kill” strategy when rivals emerge,
Amazon aggressively prices out com-
petition and Apple stifles independent
developers with its app store fees, ac-
cording to documents and testimony at
a historic inquiry into Silicon Valley.
The revelations during a five-hour
hearing in Washington on Wednesday
are likely to strengthen calls for tighter
regulation of America’s big tech firms,
whose share prices and market power
have grown during the pandemic. Some
of the country’s most senior politicians
cast Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Al-

University fraternity fears


assault trial by social media


Marc Horne


Copy, acquire, kill: how Facebook stays No 1


phabet, the parent company of Google,
as “robber barons” of the 21st century.
Monopolies stifled freedom and were
“incompatible with democracy”, David
Cicilline, a Democratic congressman,
said. The companies “shake down small
businesses and enrich themselves
while choking off competitors”, he said.
The hearing is the culmination of 13
months of investigation by the House
judiciary subcommittee on antitrust.
The four companies, which are collec-
tively worth about $5 trillion, are ac-
cused of abusing their market position.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Face-
book, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon,
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alpha-
bet, and Tim Cook, chief executive of
Apple, were on the back foot for most of
the session but denied abusing power.
Mr Zuckerberg was repeatedly ques-
tioned about his $1 billion takeover of

Instagram in 2012, when the photo-
sharing startup had a dozen staff and no
revenue but a fast-growing user base. It
now has more than one billion users.
The hearing was shown emails
between Mr Zuckerberg, 36, and David
Ebersman, his chief financial officer at
the time, in which they discussed
“going after” Instagram and other
social media sites. “If they grow to a
large scale, they could be very disrupt-
ive to us,” Mr Zuckerberg wrote. An ac-
quisition would “give us a year or more
to integrate their dynamics before any-
one can get close to their scale again”.
He told the hearing Instagram had
succeeded because of the investment.
Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic con-
gresswoman, told him: “Your company
uses data to spy on competitors and to
copy, acquire and kill rivals.”
Thunderer, page 24

Simon Duke


forward anonymously to post allega-
tions but added: “We need to be careful
about using these sites or stories — pain-
ful and often horrifying as they are — as
a substitute for an official investigation
by proper authorities. Too often, those
identified are being tried and convicted
on social and traditional media and, that
too, is unfair.”
The spokesman said the group risked
falling “prey to the cancel culture”.
The Scottish Women’s Rights Centre
also expressed reservations about the
online allegations. Kirsty Thompson,
its legal director, said: “Survivors
should be cautious about disclosing
abuse online as there could be potential
consequences for their justice process
and their personal safety.”

A


royal
run-in for
the first
Times staff
photogra-
pher, appointed 100
years ago this
weekend, helped to
establish the rights
and status of his
profession (Mark
Bridge writes).
Edward Risley
made headlines and
fought a corner for all
accredited press
photographers when a
confrontation with the
Metropolitan Police led
to a Times leader and
questions in parliament.
Yet he is now largely
forgotten due to his
untimely death.
On March 11, 1924,
Risley, 33, was among a
pack of about 30
photographers outside St
James’s Palace, snapping
people as they left a levée
held by the King.
Risley was arrested by
a police constable who
claimed that he was
obstructing traffic and
pedestrians. He was
charged at Bow Street
police court and a lengthy
report of the case
appeared in The Times

the following day. Risley
told the magistrate that
he had “never been
cautioned before and
always endeavoured to
give the least possible
trouble when taking
photographs”. He denied
holding up traffic and
insisted that it was not
true that he had told the
constable: “I shall do as I
like.” He was discharged
with a warning, with the
magistrate observing that
he was “not as discreet as
he might have been”.

The leading article, by
the paper’s editor
Geoffrey Dawson, noted
that beyond this “trivial
incident” there was a
principle at stake. The
Metropolitan Police had
adopted a plan of issuing
identification cards to
accredited photographers
of newspapers and news
agencies “but the
system... becomes
utterly valueless unless it
is fairly worked both by
the press and by the
police”. The police should
treat photographers as
“public servants and not
as a public nuisance”, he
concluded.
The matter was later
taken up in the House of

Commons with questions
being put to the home
secretary, Arthur
Henderson, and became a
benchmark in the
establishment of the
rights of press
photographers. But
Risley, whose work for
the paper included the
burial of the Unknown
Soldier in Westminster
Abbey, did not benefit
from it. He died aged 34
on January 17, 1926, at
Guy’s Hospital after a
painful illness lasting over
18 months. His obituary
in The Times spoke of his
“initiative and skill in
photographing events, at
home and abroad”.
Leading article, page 27

Arrest


put press


rights


in focus


The music producer Mark Ronson has
criticised Britain’s biggest black news-
paper as it was accused of “enabling
antisemitism” after an inflammatory
interview with the grime artist Wiley.
Ronson and other prominent figures
including Sajid Javid, the former home
secretary, and David Baddiel, the Jew-
ish comedian and author, spoke out
against The Voice for failing to chal-
lenge Wiley’s views.
The newspaper, which has a history
of campaigning journalism, asked
whether “within his ranting were there
any salient points?”
The author of the article wrote that
Wiley’s view that a Jewish lawyer is
needed to progress in the music indus-
try “may be a complete fallacy... I’ve
never seen anyone Jewish refute or
confirm this... but maybe it’s a discus-
sion that needs to be had? These ques-
tions were not being posed from an
ignorant perspective, some of the views
espoused by Wiley are the great unsaid
outside of the black community.”
Ronson, who previously discussed
his pride at his Jewish background and
produced Wiley’s top 40 hit Cash in My
Pocket, wrote on Twitter: “Jews do not
run the music business in some
secret cabal (and if they do it’s mad
f***ed up i haven’t been invited yet).”
Addressing the article’s claims
about Jewish lawyers, he wrote: “My
lawyer is Italian. My label is run by
a Gentile, and owned by a
Japanese board.”
Ronson, 44, who has won
seven Grammy awards,
wrote: “Throwing fuel on the
fire with poorly researched
articles that perpetuate dan-
gerous myths by pretending
to pose questions is not the
way forward. We must
address systematic racism.”
Wiley, 41, whose real

Music producer


clashes with


black paper on


antisemitism


Ben Ellery
name is Richard Cowie, was banned
from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
this week after posting a series of
antisemitic messages. He called Jewish
people “cowards and snakes” and com-
pared them to the Ku Klux Klan.
After his ban he gave an interview to
The Voice in which he said his Jewish
associates “see us as slaves”.
Mr Javid tweeted: “You would think
that The Voice — of all newspapers —
would’ve avoided providing a sympa-
thetic platform for a racist. Very poor
judgment.”
Mr Baddiel wrote: “The whole piece
is incredible. Unbelievably upsetting
and depressing.”
David Wolfson, QC, said on Twitter:
“I do not exaggerate. This article is a
2020 version of Der Stürmer.”
Der Stürmer was a Nazi propaganda
newspaper.
It has emerged that the rapper had
used YouTube to upload videos discuss-
ing his beliefs since he was banned by
other social media websites.
The Campaign Against Antisemi-
tism and the Board of Deputies of Brit-
ish Jews criticised the website for allow-
ing him to express antisemitic views.
In one video Wiley claimed that a
tweet denying the Holocaust, which
appeared to have been written by
him, was photoshopped. He said:
“See? This is what they do. Don’t
ask me who ‘they’ is.”
Marie van der Zyl, president of
the Board of Deputies, said:
“We urge YouTube to follow
the example of Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram
and delete Wiley’s ac-
count.”
A YouTube spokesman
said: “Hate speech and
content that promotes hate
against religious groups is
strictly prohibited on
YouTube. We enforce our
policies consistently, and
regardless of viewpoint.”
The Voice did not respond
to requests for comment.

Edward Risley is led away l di til b Cmmonswithquestions
in 1924. He photographed
the Duke of York and
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
for their wedding

Mark Ronson produced a
hit record by Wiley

FREDERICK GEORGE TOWNER/CENTRAL PRESS; EDWARD RISLEY
Free download pdf