Twitter labelled the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a “government-funded media” on April 16.
The social media platform under the leadership of business tycoon Elon Musk had recently applied similar labels to the National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the UK.
According to Twitter, the label is used in cases where “the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.”
CBC rejects Twitter’s labelling.
“Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government ‘may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,’ which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada,” CBC’s director of media relations Leon Mar told The Epoch Times in an email on April 16.
The national broadcaster received $1.2 billion in funding from the federal government last year.
BREAKING: CBC officially exposed as “government-funded media”.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 16, 2023
Now people know that it is Trudeau propaganda, not news.
Sign here to save $1 billion & defund the CBC: https://t.co/R8BvsAcR3O pic.twitter.com/Akf6IzdIb2
On April 4, Twitter labelled NPR as “state-affiliated media,” the same label as Chinese-state media Xinhua and Russian state-controlled RT. After criticism, Twitter changed the label to “government-funded media.”
NPR said on April 12 that it is quitting Twitter, and won’t be posting new content on the platform. Reacting to the development and questions about the platform’s move, Musk said on Twitter: “Defund @NPR.”
The BBC also objected to its initial label of “government-funded media,” saying: “The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”
Musk said in an email to the BBC that Twitter is “aiming for maximum transparency and accuracy.”
“Linking to ownership and source of funds probably makes sense,” he said.
Twitter later changed the label on the BBC’s account to “publicly-funded media.”
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, who often spars with the CBC and has asked for it to stop receiving federal funding, had written to Twitter to request the social media platform apply the “government-funded media” label to the broadcaster.
