BBC objects to Twitter’s move to label it as ‘government-funded media’

Right now, only the main BCC account is labelled as govt-funded media while the subsidiaries such as BBC News (World) and BBC News, BBC Sports, BBC World, and even BBC New Hindi are just mentioned as "official organisation on Twitter."

British Broadcasting Corporation logo (AP Photo)

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BBC on Monday objected to Twitter’s move to label the broadcaster as a “government-funded media” on the micro-blogging platform. BBC said it has been engaging with Elon Musk-owned Twitter to “resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

According to the Twitter help website, the definition of “government-funded media” are those “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution,” and “state-affiliated media accounts.”

BBC objects to ‘government funded media’ label on one of its main Twitter accounts https://t.co/EGTJexFQSS

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 10, 2023

As of now, only the main BCC account is labelled as govt-funded media while the subsidiaries such as BBC News (World) and BBC News, BBC Sports, BBC World, and even BBC New Hindi are just mentioned as “official organisation on Twitter.”

A screenshot of the BBC account on Twitter.

BBC says the broadcaster has always been independent and is funded by the public through a license fee. Similarly, the London-headquartered media house also says that it takes independent editorial and creative decisions.

The label “government-funded media” was earlier used for the broadcasters such as Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua News, based out of Russia and China, respectively. However, Twitter recently labelled America’s National Public Radio (NPR) as “government-funded media” along with BBC. Just like the British Broadcasting Corporation, even NPR has objected to this development and has even said to stop tweeting unless the badge is removed from the account.