Elon Musk mocks CBC by changing Twitter label to ‘69% government funded’

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Elon Musk — the world’s richest man — is having fun goofing on the CBC after the broadcaster announced it will be pausing its Twitter presence on Monday.

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“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 break.

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“Consequently, we will be pausing our activity on our corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts,” the statement continued.

The spat kicked off after Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pushed Twitter boss Musk to label CBC as “government-funded” over the weekend.

Shortly afterwards, various CBC Twitter accounts were labelled “Government-funded Media.”

Poilievre, who has pledged to defund the CBC if elected prime minister, cheered the change, writing on Twitter that “now people know that it is Trudeau propaganda, not news.”

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The CBC tried to plead its case with Musk, arguing that the federal government played no role in its content creation. “Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government ‘may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,’ which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada,” it wrote on Twitter.

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The broadcaster said that it operates at arm’s length and its journalists are “impartial and independent.”

“Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter.”

In response, Twitter’s official news account shared a report that showed CBC derives 70% of its funding from the government. It also reposted a message from 2017 in which CBC defended the funds it receives from taxpayers: “We are government-funded, but that only covers a portion of our expenses. Advertising helps us cover costs across all platforms.”

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Musk heard CBC’s pleas and changed the label to 70%, which the CBC decried. So then the Twitter CEO decided to have a little fun.

“Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re ‘less than 70% government-funded’, so we corrected the label,” Musk tweeted, along with a screengrab showing CBC’s account is now designated as “69% Government-funded Media.”

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When Twitter was asked by The Canadian Press why the label was applied and whether it would be removed or changed, the outlet got a poop emoji in response. Twitter no longer has a public relations staff, and auto-replies to press inquiries with that emoji.

In the past, Musk has shown a penchant for making jokes about the numbers 69 (Google it if you don’t know) and 420 — which is a marijuana reference. At one point, Musk only followed 69 accounts on Twitter (he now follows 225) and tried to sell Tesla “short shorts” for $69.420 apiece. When he first offered to buy Twitter, the share price he chose was $54.20.

Several other news organizations, such as National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, are also tagged as “Government-funded Media.” According to Twitter, the label is being posted to accounts “where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.”

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In 2021-22, the CBC received more than $1.2 billion in government funding, which was down from the $1.4 billion it received in 2020-21.

But in 2022, the CBC handed out more than $16 million in bonuses to staff in 2022, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fired back at his rival Poilievre for sparking the social media row. “Attacking this Canadian institution, attacking the culture and local content that is so important to so many Canadians, really indicates the values and the approach that Mr. Poilievre is putting forward,” Trudeau said.

“In order to attack this institution that is important for many, many Canadians, he runs to American billionaires, the tech giants that they continue to defend.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also waded into the fray, accusing Poilievre of colluding with foreign interests in his attack on CBC.

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“Pierre Poilievre doesn’t want you to know this. He’s taking aim at the CBC, backed by influential interests,” Singh shared in a statement. “Corporate media and tech giants – owned by US billionaires. He even enlisted one – Elon Musk – to help take down a Canadian broadcaster.”

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