TORONTO — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation paused its use of Twitter on Monday after the social media platform owned by Elon Musk stamped CBC’s account with a label the general public broadcaster says is meant to undermine its credibility.
Twitter labeled CBC/Radio-Canada “government-funded media” – the identical label that prompted National Public Radio within the U.S. to equally stop Twitter final Wednesday.
“Twitter can be a powerful tool for our journalists to communicate with Canadians, but it undermines the accuracy and professionalism of the work they do to allow our independence to be falsely described in this way,” CBC spokesman Leon Mar mentioned in an announcement asserting the change Monday afternoon.
“Consequently, we will be pausing our activity on our corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts,” the assertion mentioned.
CBC has despatched a letter to Twitter asking the corporate to re-examine the designation.
CBC doesn’t meet these standards, Mar argued, as a result of it’s publicly funded by means of a parliamentary appropriation that’s voted upon by all members of Parliament, and its editorial independence is protected in legislation within the Broadcasting Act.
The CBC’s board of administrators determines how the funding it receives is spent. In 2021-22, the CBC acquired greater than $1.2 billion Canadian (US$900 million) in authorities funding.
Opposition Conservative Party of Canada Pierre Poilievre had urged Twitter to label CBC. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized Poilievre for what he referred to as an “attack on a foundational Canadian institution.”
Twitter initially had labeled NPR’s principal account as “state-affiliated media, ” a time period additionally used to determine media shops managed or closely influenced by authoritarian governments, similar to Russia and China. Twitter later modified the label to “government-funded media,” however to NPR – which depends on the federal government for a tiny fraction of its funding – it’s nonetheless deceptive.
Twitter responded to a request for remark about why the label was utilized and whether or not it could be eliminated or modified with an auto-generated electronic mail bearing a poop emoji.
Twitter, greater than any of its rivals, has mentioned its customers come to it to maintain observe of present occasions. That made it a pretty place for information shops to share their tales and strengthened Twitter’s strikes to fight the unfold of misinformation. But Musk has lengthy expressed disdain for skilled journalists and mentioned he desires to raise the views and experience of the “average citizen.”
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