PBS Follows NPR Off Elon Musk’s Twitter After Being Labeled “Government-Funded Media”

PBS has joined NPR in closing down shop on Twitter after the Elon Musk-owned social media platform dubbed it “Government-funded Media,” slapping the tag to all its Tweets.

“PBS stopped tweeting from our account when we learned of the change and we have no plans to resume at this time. We are continuing to monitor the ever-changing situation closely,” a spokesperson for the Public Broadcasting System said in an emailed statement.

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The decision involves the main PBS account only, not local stations or PBS shows.

Yesterday, NPR said it will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds after that news organization was labeled “Government-funded Media.” NPR had stopped tweeting from its main Twitter account a week ago.

Twitter had originally tagged NRP as “State-Affiliated Media,” which includes propaganda accounts from Russia and China. It changed the wording to “Government-Funded,” but NPR called the description inaccurate and misleading because it’s a nonprofit with editorial independence.

Musk acquired Twitter last year for $44 billion. Changes he’s made include removing the verification system for media, celebrities and other prominent users.

“PBS’s editorial independence is central to our work and will never change. We produce trustworthy content that features unbiased reporting,” says the org’s now dormant Twitter account, which has 2.2 million followers.

According to Twitter’s Help Center, “Government-funded media is defined as outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content. We may use external sources similar to this one in order to determine when this label is applied.”

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