Google Vs News Corp: Internet giant refutes piracy claims made by Rupert Murdoch-owned publisher
Google has responded to scathing claims made by News Corp that it’s a “platform for piracy” run by “cynical management” in a blog post titled “Dear Rupert”.
The piece, penned by Google's global head of communications Rachel Whetstone, outlines a point by point response to claims made by News Corp’s Robert Thomson last week in a letter to EU commissioner Joaquin Almunia.
In response to Thompson’s assertion that results from YouTube are favoured in search over the original source of video content, Whetstone said:
“A simple Google search for 'videos of Robert Thomson News Corp' shows content from the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, and Nasdaq ranked above anything from YouTube. We only show YouTube results when they’re relevant to a search query.”
Responding to the claim that it supports piracy, Whetstone said Google has done more than any other company to tackle piracy online, removing 222m websites in 2013 due to copyright infringement and investing in technology, such as ContentID, to tackle piracy on YouTube.
Whetstone also points out: “Larry Page and Sergey Brin are still very much at the helm of Google” after Thompson said Google’s founders had been replaced by a cynical management.”
Responding to the blog post, a News Corp spokesperson said: "We'll let Mr. Thomson's letter speak for itself"
Update: This article was updated with News Corp's response.
Read Oliver Smith's comment – Google faces an existential risk in its EU battle – here.