The chief executive of NewsCorp has written to the European Commission calling for a tougher approach to search giant Google.

In the strongly worded letter, Robert Thomson says "the shining vision of Google's founders has been replaced by a cynical management".

It calls Google a "platform for piracy" whose power "increases with each passing day".

Google says it tackles piracy rigorously. NewsCorp Wants EU To Take a Tougher Approach to Google Privacy [bbc.co.uk]

"The uniqueness of news sites has been undermined by aggregation of content which transfers the front page to the Google home page.

"Readers have been socialised into accepting this egregious aggregation as the norm."

He also suggests Google is taking unfair advantage of its ability to sell advertising targeting specific audiences at discounted rates, undermining specialist publishers' ability to generate advertising revenue.