US public broadcaster NPR to quit Twitter over ‘misleading’ label

National Public Radio (NPR) will no longer post content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a label by the social media platform that implies government involvement in the US organisation’s editorial content.

NPR said on Wednesday Twitter refused its repeated requests to remove the inaccurate label of “state-affiliated media”, now changed to “government-funded media,” which did not accurately capture its public media governance structure.

British broadcaster BBC has also objected to the latest label, saying it is misleading.

“If we continued tweeting, every post would carry that misleading label,” NPR said.

In an interview with BBC, Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk said earlier on Wednesday the company was trying to be accurate and looking into amending the label.

“Our goal is simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible. We’re adjusting the label to be ‘publicly funded’, which I think is perhaps not too objectionable,” Musk said.

NPR said it would remain on other social media platforms, and was reviewing whether it should expand to include emerging third-party platforms.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Musk also said in the interview that Twitter was “roughly breaking even” as many advertisers, who had paused spending on the micro blogging platform since its takeover last year, had returned.

Reuters