After backlash, Twitter now calls US radio network NPR and BBC ‘government-funded’

WASHINGTON – Twitter has backtracked after an uproar over labelling the US radio network National Public Radio (NPR) as “state-affiliated media”, and now calls it “government-funded”.

Mr Elon Musk’s social media network has also applied that new label to the BBC, which is funded predominantly by British households paying a licence fee. Britain’s national broadcaster has reached out to Twitter for clarification, reports said.

The change in how Twitter refers to Washington-based NPR happened quietly overnight last Saturday and comes after the network complained that the term “state-affiliated” was disparaging and inaccurate.

Twitter last week branded NPR in the same way as government-owned Chinese and Russian platforms. In protest, NPR stopped tweeting.

In its updated Twitter bio, NPR’s main account – which has over 8.8 million followers – invited users to “find us every other place where you read the news”.

NPR chief executive officer John Lansing said Twitter’s decision was “unacceptable”.

Other accounts run by NPR, such as its music and politics handles, did not have the “state-affiliated” specification and have continued to post tweets.

Mr Musk’s move against NPR came just days after

Twitter stripped The New York Times of its verified status

on the platform, which like NPR is often accused of left-leaning bias, particularly by US conservatives.

According to Twitter policy, the decisions will deamplify tweets from both companies, limiting their reach on a platform that remains a major communication tool for media outlets, celebrities and officials.

Mr Musk has for years expressed a deep disdain for the news media and in recent weeks installed an automatic response of a poop emoji to e-mails sent to the site’s main press address.

But last Thursday, NPR said Mr Musk had signalled that the relabelling may not have been accurate. “The operating principle at Twitter is simply fair and equal treatment, so if we label non-US accounts as government, then we should do the same for the US, but it sounds like that might not be accurate,” Mr Musk wrote to NPR.

According to NPR’s website, most of its budget comes from fees paid by member stations throughout the US, which are themselves supported by individual donors and government funds.

NPR, one of America’s most respected news outlets, told AFP that less than 1 per cent of its operational budget comes from federal sources. AFP