Britain's motion picture academy on Thursday suspended actor-director Noel Clarke after a newspaper reported that multiple women had accused him of sexual harassment or bullying.
The film and television academy said it was also suspending Clarke's award for outstanding British contribution to cinema, given to him earlier this month at a ceremony in London.
It said in light of the allegations reported by The Guardian, "BAFTA has taken the decision to suspend his membership and the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema award immediately and until further notice."
The Guardian reported that it had spoken to 20 women who accused Clarke of misconduct including sexual harassment, unwanted touching, sexually inappropriate behavior on set and bullying. It named several of the women.
Clarke, 45, who starred in "Doctor Who" and created the film trilogy "Kidulthood," "Adulthood" and "Brotherhood," strongly denied all the claims.
"In a 20-year career, I have put inclusivity and diversity at the forefront of my work and never had a complaint made against me," he said in a statement. "If anyone who has worked with me has ever felt uncomfortable or disrespected, I sincerely apologize. I vehemently deny any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing and intend to defend myself against these false allegations."
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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