Twitter puts 'state-affiliated media' label on NPR account

 

Twitter has labelled National Public Radio as "U.S. state-affiliated media" on its main account, a move the head of the media company called "unacceptable." 

It was unclear why Twitter made the move. The label appeared on NPR's main Twitter account on Tuesday.

Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, quoted a definition of state-affiliated media in the company's guidelines as "outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution."

NPR has asked for the label to be removed.

NPR does receive U.S. government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The company said it accounts for less than one per cent of NPR's annual operating budget.

But until Wednesday, the Twitter guidelines said that "state-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the U.K. or NPR in the United States, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy."

NPR has now been removed from that sentence on Twitter's website.

Asked for comment, Twitter's press office responded with an automated poop emoji.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/twitter-npr-state-media-label-1.6803502