Internet
Twitter removes references to media funding
The Twitter logo on a smartphone. photo
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/archive image
Either completely or not at all – Twitter boss Elon Musk is now completely deleting references to media financing after a dispute with public broadcasters. Some broadcasters should be happy.
After a dispute with public broadcasters, Twitter refrained from providing information on the funding of media organizations. This means that the accounts of the Chinese news agency Xinhua or the Kremlin propaganda channel “Russia Today”, which is blocked in Europe, no longer refer to the fact that they are financed by the state.
The short message service originally introduced the markings to indicate possible state influence on reporting. However, Twitter owner Elon Musk started a dispute with the media because he had the US public broadcaster NPR first designated as state-controlled and later as government-funded. The station countered that it was editorially independent and received less than 1 percent of the $300 million annual budget from government funds. Markings for other stations followed.
At the British BBC, Twitter changed the award to “publicly funded” after criticism. NPR, US public broadcaster PBS and Canadian broadcaster CBC suspended their Twitter activity to protest the markings. On Friday, neither the broadcasters nor Musk initially commented on the abolition of the awards.
Musk, a tech billionaire and head of the electric car manufacturer Tesla, has long seen himself treated unfairly, especially by the US media. For his approximately 136 million Twitter followers, Musk serves as an amplifier for right-wing political views. The media recently accused Musk of being “racist” towards whites.
