Twitter has removed the “Government-funded” and “China state-affiliated” labels from the accounts of several international media organizations, a change reflected on their profiles on Friday.
The “Government-funded Media” tag was lifted from several prominent outlets, including the National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Additionally, the “China state-affiliated media” designation has been removed from the account of Xinhua News and various journalists linked to state-sponsored publications.
While Chinese media accounts, as well as those belonging to senior government officials, were given the label in 2020, NPR and CBC were only recently tagged this month. This prompted the two organizations to halt their activities on Twitter, citing a misalignment between the label and their governance structure.
In a recent interview with the BBC, Twitter’s owner, Elon Musk, indicated that the platform is seeking to enhance clarity around its labeling practices. He stated, “Our goal is simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible. We’re adjusting the label to be ‘publicly funded’, which I think is perhaps not too objectionable.”
As of now, Twitter, NPR, CBC, and BBC have not responded to inquiries regarding the removal of the label.
On a related note, Twitter issued a decision on Thursday to rescind the legacy verified blue tick from thousands of accounts, affecting celebrities, journalists, and notable political figures, including Hillary Clinton.
Among those who lost their verification were former President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and reality television personality Kim Kardashian.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
