In a speech to Australia’s media elite last night, Robert Thomson slammed Google and its new parent company Alphabet, labelling them both as pirates. Piracy is a strong word these days, but it’s not piracy in the traditional sense.
Thomson’s comments are being reported by The Australian this morning. Thomson reportedly laid out a few letters of Google’s new alphabet, slamming them for leaning on traditional media companies and ripping off stories:
That Google’s newly conceived parent company is to be called Alphabet has itself created a range of delicious permutations: A is for avarice, B is for bowdlerise, through to K for kleptocracy, P for piracy and Z for zealotry.
You should go and read the full story and get more quotes. Thomson’s comments basically boiled down to social networks like Facebook and web giants like Google spinning up new News platforms without paying for the stories that feed them.
Thomson also lashed out at LinkedIn, labelling them as “pretenders”, according to The Australian.
Thomson’s comments parrot a familiar News Limited line. The company has slammed Google as content pirates before almost exactly a year ago, and now the line is being rolled out again given the new incorporation of Alphabet, Google’s new parent company. [The Australian]
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