Twitter slaps ‘government funded media’ labels on other major news outlets after NPR backlash
Twitter has slapped a number of news organizations that receive public funding with a “government funded media” label, after drawing sharp backlash last week for labeling NPR’s account with a “state-affiliated media” tag.
NPR responded to the label by saying it would no longer tweet from its account of 8.8 million followers until the label was removed. The NPR account has remained inactive despite Twitter changing the label from “state-affiliated” to “government funded” over the weekend.
NPR technology reporter Bobby Allyn tweeted on Saturday that Musk told him the platform would be applying the “government funded” label “to a larger number of institutions.”
The label now appears on outlets that receive some government funding, including BBC, PBS and Voice of America. However, it does not appear on other government-backed outlets, such as Canada’s CBC or Qatar’s Al Jazeera.
The BBC was quick to push back against the categorization.
“We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible,” BBC said in a statement to The Hill. “The BBC is, and always has been, independent.”
……..
Critics of the move have pointed out that Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s other companies, Tesla and SpaceX, have received billions in government funding, grants and subsidies throughout the years, but neither of them have a “government funded” label on their Twitter accounts.
- Discussion
-
Twitter slaps "government funded media" labels on other major news outlets after NPR backlash https://t.co/C5jkJDSy0B pic.twitter.com/4VtGHotynM
— The Hill (@thehill) April 9, 2023
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.