NPR decides to quit Twitter after 'inaccurate' labels
National Public Radio, better known as NPR, has become the first media organization in the U.S. to stop posting its content on Twitter. This decision came after Elon Musk took over the social media platform last year. NPR has 52 official accounts that post content on Twitter, CNBC reported.
NPR's pullout from Twitter could trigger other media organizations to stop sharing their content on this social media platform. Musk has been a vocal critic of legacy media and called The New York Times coverage "propaganda" and its Twitter feed, "diarrhea" earlier this month.
Also, their feed is the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea. It’s unreadable.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 2, 2023
They would have far more real followers if they only posted their top articles.
Same applies to all publications.
Musk's battle with NPR
After taking over Twitter, Musk has instituted a host of changes and pushed users to sign up for its Twitter Blue service subscriptions. Twitter is also officially rolling back verified check marks on the platform after they have been bundled with Twitter Blue.
Many media organizations and celebrities have refused to cough up a subscription fee for the verified checkmark that they were conferred much before Musk took over Twitter. After quite a few attempts on launching Twitter Blue where users assumed identities of other organizations with verified check marks. Twitter seemed to have finally got its bearings right and found a way to keep some verified checks by adding additional labels.
However, last week, Twitter labeled NPR's accounts as U.S.-state affiliated media first and then changed it to government-funded media — putting them in the same bracket as RussiaTV or Xinhua news agency in China.
NPR has refuted this label stating that even though it receives federal funding, it is editorially independent and Twitter's label is "inaccurate and misleading". According to the outlet, federal funding accounts for less than one percent of its $300 million annual budget,
NPR CEO John Lansing told NPR employees that the organization would not immediately return to the platform, even if Twitter dropped the label. He also said that he had lost in decision-making at Twitter.
When an NPR reporter reached out to Elon Musk for a reaction about this decision, he responded.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2023
Following NPR's decision, U.S. non-commercial broadcaster, PBS, has also announced that it quit Twitter over a similar label.
Musk spent most of his day posing questions to NPR over the tag. Interestingly, when the BBC opposed a similar tag, Musk changed it to a publicly funded, one without much delay.