Google has hit back at Rupert Murdoch after he branded the search giant a “piracy leader” stating that it fought pirates and counterfeiters “every day”.

Google told the BBC: “Google respects copyright – and we’ve worked hard to help rights holders deal with piracy. Last year we took down five million infringing web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million in the fight against bad ads.”

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”.

Categories: Articles, Piracy, Policy, Regulation