Microsoft’s Brad Smith renews attack on Google over web content

Smith noted that in 2005, US news organisations garnered almost US$50bil (RM205.25bil) in ad sales, a figure that he said has plummeted to US$14bil (RM57.48bil). — AP

Microsoft Corp president Brad Smith said Google has hurt the concept of the open web and impaired content creators’ ability to make money, continuing an attack the software maker began earlier this year over whether Internet companies need to pay news organisations for content they re-share.

“The reality is that Google has fundamentally sucked most of the oxygen out of the opportunities for people who create content to actually earn a living through advertising,” said Smith, who is also Microsoft’s chief legal officer, in a Bloomberg Television interview. “It’s interesting to just look at what has happened to what was supposed to be an open web – that was the promise of the Internet.”