Canadian broadcaster halts Twitter use after being labeled ‘government-funded media’

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. paused its use of Twitter on Monday after the social media platform stamped CBC’s account with a label the public broadcaster says is intended to undermine its credibility.

Twitter labeled CBC/Radio-Canada “government-funded media” — the same label that prompted National Public Radio in the U.S. to similarly quit Twitter last 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 said in a statement announcing 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 statement said.

CBC has sent a letter to Twitter, which is owned by Elon Musk, asking the company to re-examine the designation. Musk later tweeted about it and changed it to “69 percent Government-funded media.”

The label is not applicable to CBC, Mar argued, because the broadcaster is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all members of Parliament, and its editorial independence is protected by law in the Broadcasting Act.

The CBC’s board of directors determines how the funding it receives is spent. In 2021-22, the CBC received more than 1.2 billion Canadian dollars (about $900 million) in government funding.

Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada, had urged Twitter to label CBC a state-funded body. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized Poilievre for what he called an “attack on a foundational Canadian institution.”

Twitter initially had labeled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated media, ” a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, such as in Russia and China. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media,” but to NPR — which relies on the government for a tiny fraction of its funding — it’s still misleading.

Twitter earlier responded to a request for comment about why the label was applied and whether it would be removed or changed with an auto-generated email bearing a poop emoji.

Twitter, more than any of its rivals, has said that its users come to it to keep track of current events. That made it an attractive place for news outlets to share their stories and reinforced Twitter’s moves to combat the spread of misinformation. But Musk has long expressed disdain for professional journalists and said he wants to elevate the views and expertise of the “average citizen.”

Musk has also abruptly suspended the accounts of individual journalists who wrote about Twitter late last year, claiming that some were trying to reveal his location.

Twitter also used to tag journalists and other high-profile accounts with blue checkmarks to verify their identity and distinguish them from impostors. But Musk has derided the marks as an undeserved status symbol and plans to take them away from anyone not buying a premium subscription.