(Bloomberg) -- French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron, who has filed a complaint over a suggestion he had a secret bank account in the Bahamas, said he'll “stop fake news” affecting the election campaign and pledged to draw up new rules for the Internet.
Macron, 39, told CNews television he has been the victim of an online attack spreading false claims about his finances. Polls project Macron will defeat his far-right rival Marine Le Pen, 48, on Sunday by about 20 percentage points.
“I want to stop fake news,” Macron said Thursday. “It pollutes, it degrades the political debate.” He added that politicians “must together raise the level of the political debate” and “regulate the Internet because today certain players are activists and have a very important role in the campaign.”
Macron filed a legal complaint earlier Thursday, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor said. Le Pen referred to the content of the disputed online report in a televised debate the previous evening, saying she hoped Macron has no such bank account.
To contact the reporters on this story: John Follain in Paris at jfollain2@bloomberg.net, Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills
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