By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Chris Hardwick's cable talk show is on hold and he has withdrawn as moderator of AMC and BBC America's Comic-Con panels, AMC Networks said Saturday.
The company said it had a positive working relationship with the host and producer but takes seriously what it calls "troubling" allegations by his former girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra.
In an online post, she lodged claims of sexual assault and emotional abuse against a man whom she didn't identify. But she included details about his age and work history that led some to link her allegations to Hardwick, who acknowledged Dykstra was referring to him as he denied her claims.
"I was heartbroken to read Chloe's post," Hardwick said in a statement provided Saturday to The Associated Press. He said the couple's three-year relationship was imperfect and included arguments, but he loved her.
Hardwick said he "did my best to uplift and support her as a partner and companion in any way and at no time did I sexually assault her," adding that he was "devastated" and "blindsided" by her post accusing him of conduct that he said didn't occur.
"As a husband, a son, and future father, I do not condone any kind of mistreatment of women," he said.
AMC Networks said "Talking with Chris Hardwick" won't air on AMC while it assesses the situation and that Hardwick decided to step aside from next month's Comic-Con panels in San Diego.
Hardwick gained attention as host of AMC's "Talking Dead," a talk-show companion to its "The Walking Dead" drama series.
The initial public fallout to Dykstra's post Thursday involved Nerdist, which Hardwick founded as a podcast and then expanded into a digital network that was acquired by Legendary Entertainment. His name has been removed from the Nerdist website, which said the behavior claimed in the post by Dykstra is contrary to what it stands for.
In a statement, Legendary said references to Hardwick as Nerdist's founder were deleted pending further investigation.
It said Hardwick's contract expired in December 2017 and he no longer has any affiliation with Nerdist or Legendary's digital media division.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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