Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has said his company News Corporation is planning to "hit back hard" at fresh allegations of hacking rival businesses in an outburst online.
The 81-year-old chairman said "old toffs and right wingers" were the worst of his enemies, "who still want last century's status quo with their monopolies" in a series of posts on Twitter.
Murdoch, whose company is facing an investigation by police in Australia over claims a subsidiary firm hacked rival Pay TV businesses, said claims against him were "lies and libel".
"Seems every competitor and enemy piling on with lies and libels. So bad, easy to hit back hard, which preparing," he told over 200,000 followers.
The News Corp CEO whose recent bid for full ownership of Sky News was investigated by the competition commission, is under pressure with claims a subsidiary of his company, NDS, used a website to sabotage Sky TV's biggest rival.
BBC Panorama said NDS leaked information from ITV's On Digital to help create counterfeit smart cards, which was a major factor in the service's demise.
News Corp has accused the BBC of "gross misrepresentation" over the claims, but since the programme aired on Monday night fresh allegations of a similar nature have surfaced in Australia.
The Australian Financial Review said NDS had used hacking in an attempt to bring down rival businesses in the country, claims which could now be investigated by police.
The paper alleged that a unit within the media mogul's firm used "hi-tech piracy" to gain advantage over their broadcasting rivals.
The Australian communications minister has called for a police investigation into the matter, while the deputy prime minister Wayne Swan said the allegations were "concerning".
In a statement the Australian arm of the company, News Limited, said the story was "full of factual inaccuracies".
"The story is full of factual inaccuracies, flawed references, fanciful conclusions and baseless accusations which have been disproved in overseas courts."
On Thursday the Independent published claims that NDS had paid Surrey police £2,000 for 'assistance" in work.
The force, which was hit by revelations connected to the News of the World's hacking of murdered school girl Milly Dowler, told the Independent it could not find a record of the payment on its records, but was investigating.
NDS said the payment, made in 2000, was a "charitable donation".
See below for a slideshow of Murdoch's tweets: