Australia’s national broadcaster has received the “government-funded media” label from Elon Musk’s Twitter.
The move follows a string of new designations for government-linked media outlets worldwide after the tech billionaire took over the ailing social media giant.
The new category for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will be featured just under the name of the organisation.
In response, an ABC spokesperson told The Epoch Times, “The ABC is liaising with Twitter regarding changes to account verification and labels.”
The decision by Twitter has swept up major news outlets worldwide with the label “state-affiliated media” slapped on Chinese Communist Party mouthpieces like Xinhua and CCTV, or Russian-backed outlets like RT and Sputnik News.
Twitter explained that the label was to define outlets where the “state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”
“The label appears on the profile page of the relevant Twitter account and on the Tweets sent by and shared from these accounts. Labels contain information about the country the account is affiliated with and whether it is operated by a government representative or state-affiliated media entity.”
Western Media Outlets Dispute Tag
Western media like the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the U.S.-based National Public Radio (NPR), and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) have disputed the designation.
In NPR’s case, Twitter altered the label after the platform objected vigorously to being called “state-affiliated media”, saying it would boycott Twitter.
“NPR and our member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way,” said CEO John Lansing.
The amount of government funding received by NPR is in dispute with estimates ranging from one percent to over 10 percent of funding.
Meanwhile, NPR has not posted any new content on its Twitter feed since mid-April and has encouraged users to engage with its other social media platforms.
Twitter has since changed its tag from “state-affiliated media” to “government-funded media.”
Media Outlets Shunning Twitter
Meanwhile, PBS has also stopped posting on Twitter since April 8.
“PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change and we have no plans to resume at this time,” PBS spokesman Jason Phelps told Bloomberg. “We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely.”
While the BBC, which was initially designated a “government-funded media,” managed to overturn the tag after arguing that all UK households were required (by law) to pay a license fee to support the network.
“The BBC is, and always has been, independent,” the broadcaster said in a statement. “We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”
The BBC now receives the “publicly-funded media” tag.
For Australia’s ABC such an argument will be difficult given nearly all of its funding comes from the Australian federal government. The broadcaster currently receives over $1 billion (US$670 million) in taxpayer funds per year.
Bryan Jung and Jack Philips contributed to this article.
