Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has sparked a backlash after taking to Twitter over the weekend to criticise Google's privacy policies, comparing them unfavourably to the NSA.
The tweet, posted on 17 August, reads "NSA privacy invasion bad, but nothing compared to Google."
NSA privacy invasion bad, but nothing compared to Google.Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) August 17, 2014
Predictably, Twitter users were quick to respond to the claim, bringing up Murdoch's own invasions of privacy with phone hacking at The News of the World newspaper, which led to its closure. Many pointed out the comments were hypocritical after his part in the paper's wrongdoing.
One respondent, @davidbadash, tweeted:
So @rupertmurdoch, who had to shutter a century-old paper for cell phone tapping hypocritically attacks Google, NSA: https://t.co/yOsuDVOA3sDavid Badash (@davidbadash) August 17, 2014
This is not the first time Murdoch has targeted the search engine, tweeting back in April: "Google attack on NSA extreme nerve. Google has more data on all of us and uses it. No evidence of NSA doing this. Ethical company?"
Also, in January 2012, he also blasted the company's role in movie piracy by tweeting: "Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying."
Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying.Rupert Murdoch (@rupertmurdoch) January 14, 2012
