Freedom of speech usually entails responsibility. Therefore, if a reliable publishing house reports certain materials it is the one accountable for the consequences. Bloomberg News is a highly respected news agency. As a result, it is responsible for spreading fake news. The article that caused shares of French construction company Vinci to slump turned into a $7 million fine for Bloomberg. Two journalists of the Speed Desk of Bloomberg’s Paris office reported a fake press release and the news about a financial audit in Vinci. According to the journalists, Vinci fired its chief financial officer following the audit that discovered accounting errors, prompting the company to issue updated figures for 2015 and the first two quarters of 2016. Overall, the company reported a net loss instead of profits for the period of review. “In considering that Bloomberg LP disseminated information which it should have known to be false, the Enforcement Committee noted that the publication of the dispatches by Bloomberg, which began one minute after receiving the fraudulent news release, was preceded by no verification by the journalists of the Speed Desk, even though the release, which contained several errors, sent to Bloomberg during a trading session and reporting very serious information, suggesting that a dramatic and immediate drop in the share price was likely, required increased vigilance from the journalists,” the statement said.
