Twitter Drops ‘Government-Funded’ Label From NPR, PBS After News Orgs Quit Platform in Protest
thewrap.comstop using the social media platform in protest.NPR said the move came late Thursday night, when its Twitter account saw the “government-funded” label disappear.Twitter also dropped the “state-affiliated” identifiers it had used to designate outlets like Russia’s RT and Sputnik and China’s Xinhua.The policy page describing the labels also disappeared from Twitter’s website, NPR noted.
The change in the labeling system came the same day Twitter finally removed blue “verification” checkmarks from journalists’, celebrities’ and influencers’ accounts if they did not pay a monthly fee.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk had initially said the “legacy” blue checks would disappear on April 1.Late Thursday, Musk tweeted, “Such a great day in so many ways,” with no elaboration.NPR reporter Bobby Allyn tweeted that Musk told him the platform “has now dropped all media labels.
Asked why, Musk says: “This was Walter Isaacson’s suggestion.”Isaacson, a prolific author perhaps best known for his 2011 book on Steve Jobs, is penning an upcoming Musk biography.NPR did not immediately respond to a query about whether it will resume using the platform.
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