France has launched an investigation into former Culture Minister Jack Lang over his alleged links to Jeffrey Epstein, while in the technology sector, Uber was ordered to pay $8.5 million in a rape case, Google employees are demanding the company cut ties with ICE, TikTok faces EU scrutiny over its "addictive design," and reports reveal that many smart motorways are failing to deliver expected value.
Financial crime prosecutors in France opened a preliminary inquiry into Jack Lang, a prominent figure in French socialist governments between the 1980s and 2000s, for suspected "laundering of tax fraud proceeds," according to BBC World. The investigation follows the release of the Epstein files by the US Department of Justice, which documented links between the Lang family and the late American sex offender. Lang, now 86, has denied any wrongdoing, describing the allegations as "baseless."
In the United States, Uber was ordered by a court to pay $8.5 million to a woman who claimed she was raped by a driver, as reported by BBC Technology. The ruling, stemming from a federal lawsuit in Arizona, could influence thousands of other cases against the company. The jury found Uber responsible for the driver's actions, though the company intends to appeal the verdict. The plaintiff, Jaylynn Dean, said she was sexually assaulted in the car.
Also in the technology sector, nearly 900 Google employees demanded more transparency over the company's ties to the federal government's immigration enforcement, according to BBC Technology. The employees expressed concerns over Google's contracts to provide cloud services to federal agencies and its links to work being done on immigration enforcement. One Google employee of seven years found it "mind-boggling" that Google was maintaining its ties with the immigration enforcement.
The European Union has told TikTok it must change its "addictive design" or face heavy fines, BBC Technology reported. The European Commission found the video-sharing platform had breached its online safety rules, specifically regarding features like autoplay and their potential harm to users, including children. A TikTok spokesperson told the BBC the findings presented a "categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform" and it planned to challenge them.
Meanwhile, a report from National Highways revealed that many smart motorways in England are failing to offer the value for money expected when they were originally planned, according to BBC Business. Two schemes, involving sections of the M25 and the M6, were found to be offering "very poor" value. The AA, representing motorists, said the schemes had turned out to be a "catastrophic waste of time, money and effort."
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