Twitter removes references to media funding

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This means that the accounts of China’s Xinhua news agency or the Europe-blocked Kremlin propaganda channel Russia Today no longer refer to them as being funded by the state.

Short Message Service originally introduced the markers to indicate possible state influence on reporting. However, Twitter owner Elon Musk started a dispute with the media because he had the American public broadcaster NPR first classified as state-controlled and later as government-funded. The station countered that it was editorially independent and received less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from government money. Markings for other stations followed.

At Britain’s BBC, Twitter changed the award to “government-funded” after criticism. NPR, US public broadcaster PBS and Canadian broadcaster CBC have suspended their Twitter activities to protest the markings. On Friday, neither the broadcasters nor Musk initially commented on the abolition of the awards.

Musk, a tech billionaire and head of electric car maker Tesla, has long been treated unfairly, especially by the US media. For his approximately 136 million Twitter followers, Musk serves as an amplifier for right-wing political views. The media recently accused Musk of being “racist” towards whites.

(SDA)

Source: Blick