The BBC was today accused of airing a 'misleading and inaccurate' interview by media editor Amol Rajan with Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and failing to challenge his claim to want a 'free and open internet'.
The search giant is facing criticism over its controversial next generation digital advertising systems that competition watchdogs fear will stifle diversity of opinion on the internet and deny independent news publishers fair returns.
Mr Rajan's interview on the News At Ten on Monday was criticised by Marketers for an Open Web - a group of online publishers, advertisers, tech and data firms - which said he did not challenge Mr Pichai's claim to 'stand up' for a free and open internet.
Tim Cowen of Preiskel and Co, legal advisor to MOW, told MailOnline today: 'Rajan's interview was misleading and inaccurate.
'Google claimed to be a champion of the Open Web when it is building a 'walled garden', trying to enclose the web to make even bigger profits.'
Google is planning to replace so-called third party cookies with a new 'Privacy Sandbox' next year, which will group users together according to their interests.
Analytics data already shows that the BBC website is consistently favoured in Google search results, followed closely by The Guardian website.
The Sandbox would mean that instead of traditional third-party cookies, which see advertisers track individuals across sites they visit, users will be split into cohorts.
Britain's Competition and Markets Authority has warned that the system could stifle competition among independent publishers.
Rather than a person's browser history being sent to a location, their own computer will work out what they like and assign them to a group with similar interests.
Online ads will still be personalised under the system, but Google claims it will afford users greater privacy. However, rivals and regulators worry that the move could strengthen Google's stranglehold on the market for online advertising.
MOW labelled the interview as a 'piece of corporate advertising' and 'unbalanced' reporting, saying that the BBC had run a 'Ten O'Clock News advert for Google'.
The clips were taken from an hour-long chat shown beforehand on BBC Two, which the corporation had billed as a 'hard-hitting and personally revealing encounter'.
BBC media editor Amol Rajan (pictured) spoke to Mr Pichai at his Silicon Valley headquarters
They were introduced 20 minutes into the News At Ten by presenter Sophie Raworth, who said: 'The boss of the search engine Google says the model of a free and open internet is under attack.
'Sundar Pichai says many countries are restricting the flow of information and the western model free from political censorship is often taken for granted.'
Asked by Mr Rajan about developments in quantum computing and artificial intelligence, Mr Pichai said: 'I viewed it as the most profound technology that humanity will ever develop and work on. And we have to make sure we do it in a way that we can harness it to society's benefit.
'Be it healthcare, be it education, be it how we manufacture things. How we consume information. If we think about fire or electricity or the internet. It's like that but even more profound...'
Mr Rajan continued: 'How worried are you that today the internet seems to be splitting into different domains, where we have a kind of Californian internet, and increasingly a Chinese one - and the Chinese one might be in the ascendant?'
Mr Pichai replied:
