The Public Broadcasting Service has followed National Public Radio in quitting Twitter after the social media network labeled both organizations as government-backed media.
(Bloomberg) — The Public Broadcasting Service has followed National Public Radio in quitting Twitter after the social media network labeled both organizations as government-backed media.
“PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change and we have no plans to resume at this time,” PBS spokesman Jason Phelps said in an email. “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
The spat began after Twitter tagged NPR as “state-affiliated media,” a description it also uses for propaganda accounts from Russia and China. Twitter later changed the wording to “government-funded media,” but the organization has called the description inaccurate and misleading because it’s a nonprofit group with editorial independence.
Twitter owner Elon Musk has cited NPR’s reliance on US government money, though the Washington-based organization only gets a small fraction of its funding from federal agencies.
“Guess they won’t mind losing federal funding in that case,” Musk said in one tweet. “Defund NPR,” the billionaire wrote in another.
He acquired the social media platform last year for $44 billion and has been making sweeping changes, including removing the verification system for media, celebrities and other prominent Twitter users.
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