Andrea Tantaros Sues Fox News, Alleging Operatives Hacked Her Phone & Emails In Smear Campaign

Former Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly may be gone, but that doesn't mean the lawsuit faucet is turned off. Former Fox host Andrea Tantaros filed a suit in federal court today, alleging that key Fox News operatives hacked her phones and emails to conduct a smear campaign against her after she reported sexual harassment complaints against former CEO Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reily. In addition to Ailes, the suit names current co-president Bill Shine, PR executive Irena Briganti, and social-media consultant Peter Snyder as defendants, writes New York Magazine. 

Tantaros’s suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, details a shadowy plot that evokes the current season of Homeland. Tantaros accuses Peter Snyder, who runs the investment firm Disruptor, of orchestrating an army of Twitter sock-puppet trolls to harass her. Fox News operatives, according to Tantaros, also monitored her phone calls and emails, and used the information they acquired “to intimidate, terrorize, and crush her career through an endless stream of lewd, offensive, and career-damaging social media posts, blog entries and commentary.”

Tantaros alleges the hacking began around the time she was taken off the air in April 2016, after speaking up to network bosses about harassment at Fox News. (The network said her removal was for failing to get a sign-off from the company on her book.) According to the suit, “a forensic analysis of Ms. Tantaros’s computer revealed that it contained unique surveillance viruses that are not found in any mass malware.” Tantaros says that she has information that proves “a person working for Fox News was responsible for hacking [her] computer so that she could be spied upon.” The suit cites multiple examples of things Tantaros discussed in private phone conversations that soon ended up in tweets directed at her.

On Tuesday Noon, Mercedes & BMW. Allstate Plus Five More Advertisers Cut Ties To Fox News 'The O'Reilly Factor'

In the last few hours, six more advertisers joined Mercedes-Benz yesterday and Hyundai early Tuesday in pulling their advertising from the 'The O'Reilly Factor' show. BMW of North America; GlaxoSmithKline; Allstate; Constant Contact, an online marketer; Untuckit, a men’s clothing distributor; and Sanofi Consumer HealthCare, which advertised products like ACT mouthwash on Mr. O’Reilly’s show, have pulled their ad dollars, reports an updated article at the New York Times.

Marketing representatives stated that they will monitor the situation regarding the claims against Bill O'Reilly, but there is no doubt that losing eight advertisers in 24 hrs. is an emergency room issue for both Bill O'Reilly and Fox News, as well as the entire Rupert Murdoch family. 

Scandal and turmoil returned to Fox News on Monday, with ousted chairman Roger Ailes becoming the subject of a new sexual  harassment lawsuit. Also on Monday, the New York Times published a scathing investigation that found five women who made allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate allegations against him. The five women charging O'Reilly received settlements totaling about $13 million according to the Times.

“Given the importance of women in every aspect of our business, we don’t feel this is a good environment in which to advertise our products right now,” Donna Boland, the manager of corporate communications for Mercedes-Benz, wrote in an email. Mercedes-Benz has spent an estimated $1.9 million in ads on “The O’Reilly Factor” in the last year, according to iSpot.tv, the TV ad analytics firm.

In a separate article Monday evening, the Times cited a difficult situation in dealing with money-machine O'Reilly.  Ratings are up significantly under most cable news shows in the Trump era and O'Reilly's are no exception. Viewers are likely to dismiss the women's claims, but advertisers control the purse strings. 

If more advertisers abandon Mr. O’Reilly’s show, it would be a blow to Fox News, which provides billions of dollars in revenue each year to its parent company, 21st Century Fox. Mr. O’Reilly has long been the pugnacious face of a prime-time lineup that sets the tone for conservative commentary. His show attracts almost 4 million viewers a night, and from 2014 through 2016 it generated more than $446 million in advertising revenue, according to the research firm Kantar Media.

The situation today at Fox News has to be critical.