Always independent, says BBC as Twitter labels it as government-funded

The BBC has asserted that it’s funded by the British public after Twitter labelled one of its accounts as “government-funded media”. This comes amid a similar row between the social media company and America’s NPR.

Twitter owner Elon Musk has been accused of undermining news media on the social media platform. He earlier pulled down the New York Times’ verified status. He has also installed an automatic response of a poop emoji to emails sent to the site's media address.

“We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee,” the BBC said.

This comes days after Twitter labelled America’s National Public Radio as “state-affiliated media” –  it was later changed to “government funded media”. The NPR, which only receives a share of its funding from public institutions, had hit back at Twitter, saying it would suspend its use of the account unless the tag was tweaked.

In its updated Twitter bio, NPR’s main account told users to “find us every other place where you read the news”.

“State-affiliated media accounts are outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution,” according to the Twitter website. Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua News are under this category.

The BBC account that was labelled as government-funded posts breaking news and updates on its shows and podcasts.