Rivals spar over Google+ traffic

Google has traded blows with a group of rivals including Facebook and Twitter as each side tries to seize the moral high ground in the increasingly bitter online social networking wars.

The search company won plaudits from human rights groups as it announced a policy change on its Google+ network that will make it easier for users to appear under pseudonyms. The more lenient approach contrasts with Facebook’s insistence on the use of “real names”, which activists claim exposes political dissidents to reprisals in some countries. Earlier in the day, however, Google came under fresh attack over controversial changes made to its search engine earlier this month that critics claim were designed mainly to divert traffic to its new social network, at the cost of devaluing its search results.