NPR decides to quit Twitter after 'inaccurate' labels

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.

pic.twitter.com/krmcbhutr0

— 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.