Businessman Clive Palmer has launched into a passionate rant slamming media mogul Rupert Murdoch, after he was approached by a journalist while on a family holiday.

The former federal MP was questioned by the journalist while in Venice on a Mediterranean cruise with relatives and friends, months after he appeared in court to give evidence to liquidators of his Queensland Nickel company.

Video of the altercation was posted to his Facebook page earlier today.

"There'll be a big issue at the next election and I'll be there to champion that cause so that Australians can have freedom of thought again – Murdoch needs to be held accountable," Mr Palmer can be heard saying.

"Murdoch needs to go to jail, run that!

"I think Murdoch needs to go to jail as soon as possible so that all Australians can be free, and the Murdoch empire should be broken up.

"We need to have media investment laws much like there was in Germany after World War II when many corporations were broken up because they had monopoly control."

Mr Palmer echoed US President Donald Trump's claims about "fake news".

"We need to have this at the forefront of Australia's public thought, and that's the real issue about this... the fake news that President Trump has identified that operates in the western world."

"We've seen thousands of journalists sacked by the Murdoch empire where he employs young journalists between 20 and 30 and discards them when they get older, we've seen his sub-editors and his editors manipulate the press and affect the whole freedom of thought in Australia."

Last month, Mr Palmer responded to News Corp Australia publishing photos and details of the 24-day, $10,000-a-head cruise he and his family boarded in Spain.

"Like any Australian, I have the right to take my family on a holiday,” he said in a statement on June 19.

"There are no actions against me for anything in any court. I have not been accused of any crime against anyone.

"If it's a crime to love your wife and children and to spend time with them then I am guilty."

Mr Palmer has consistently denied he was in charge of Queensland Nickel when it went under.

The company went belly up in 2016 with debts of about $300 million, causing up to 800 people to lose their job.