Google and News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch have become embroiled in a war of words after the media tycoon accused the internet giant of being a ‘piracy leader’.
The News Corporation chairman tweeted that Google “streams movies free” and “sells [adverts] around them”.
In response, Google said that it fought pirates and counterfeiters “every day”.
Mr Murdoch was tweeting in response to the White House’s apparent opposition to some aspects of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa).
“Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells [adverts] around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying,” the 80-year-old wrote.
He was referring to Google’s indexing of sites offering illegal downloading of movies and other copyrighted content.
To back up his complaint, he later added: “Just been to google search for mission impossible. Wow, several sites offering free links. I rest my case.”
Speaking to technology news site CNET, Google, an opponent of Sopa, said it believed there are better methods of protecting against copyright infringement.
The company suggested “targeted legislation that would require ad networks and payment processors – like ours – to cut off sites dedicated to piracy or counterfeiting”.
