Twitter dropped the "Government-funded Media"
label from the accounts of US-based National Public Radio (NPR), British
Broadcasting Corp and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
It also dropped the "China state-affiliated media"
tag on the accounts of Xinhua News as well as of journalists associated with
government-backed publications.
While Chinese publishers' accounts, including those of their
senior staff as well as of some key government officials, started getting the
label in 2020, the likes of NPR and CBC were labelled only earlier this month.
That led NPR and CBC to stop posting to their Twitter
accounts, arguing that the label did not accurately capture their governance
structure.
In a BBC interview last week, Twitter's billionaire owner
Elon Musk said the social media platform was trying to be "accurate"
and looking into amending the label.
"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," Musk had said.
Twitter, NPR, CBC and BBC did not immediately respond to a
request for comment on the removal of the tag.
Twitter on Thursday also removed the legacy verified blue
tick from the profile of thousands of people, including celebrities, journalists
and prominent politicians such as Hillary Clinton.
Among those losing their badges were former US president
Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and reality TV star Kim
Kardashian. © Reuters