On Saturday night, we reported that Rupert Murdoch had taken to Twitter to blast the Obama Administration’s position on SOPA, and how he tweeted:
“Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying.”
This is nonsense, according to Google (and quite a few other people). CNET shares a statement from a Google spokeswoman in response to Murdoch’s accusations:
“This is just nonsense. Last year we took down 5 million infringing Web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million in the fight against bad ads…We fight pirates and counterfeiters every day.”
“We believe, like many other tech companies that the best way to stop [pirates] is through targeted legislation that would require ad networks and payment processors–like ours–to cut off sites dedicated to piracy or counterfeiting.”
Here are a few more high profile responses to Murdoch’s tweets:
@benhuh
benhuh.@rupertmurdoch Accusing Google of piracy is like accusing the library of copyright infringement. Access to knowledge is a human right.
1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto
@jeffjarvis
Jeff JarvisGoogle doesn’t pirate and it doesn’t hack dead girls, @rupertmurdoch. I am so happy I pulled my book from you. 1 day ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
@om
Om Malik.@rupertmurdoch you weren’t complaining much when google was paying you big ad dollars for MySpace, that hosted some “pirate” stuff #SOPA 1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto
Zing. Granted, Murdoch did admit that News Corp. screwed up in every way possible with MySpace.
Murdoch has since tweeted some follow-ups regarding Google and piracy:
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch Understand more than all allege! Google great company doing many exciting things. Only one complaint, and it’s important. 1 day ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch Just been to google search for mission impossible. Wow, several sites offering free links. I rest my case. 1 day ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch Sure misunderstand many things, but not plain stealing. Incidentally google blocks many other undesirable things. 18 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch Agree about cinema prices which out of our control – but even more offensive are prices for popcorn and sodas. 13 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch More pirates. Whole entertainment ind employs 2.2 million ave salary 65 g. Good jobs and expanding foreign earnings. Made in America, too! 5 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
@rupertmurdoch
Rupert Murdoch Just for the record, cinemas average well over half ticket money. 5 hours ago via Twitter for iPad · powered by @socialditto
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