Twitter has removed the “Government-funded Media” and “China state-affiliated” labels from the accounts of various global media organizations. This includes the accounts of NPR, BBC, CBC, Xinhua News, Global Times, and Sputnik. The labels implied government involvement in editorial content.
NPR, CBC, and BBC were labeled earlier this month, causing them to stop posting to their Twitter accounts because they felt the label did not accurately capture their governance structure. However, Twitter’s owner Elon Musk said the platform was trying to be accurate and was looking into amending the label.
Twitter also removed the legacy verified blue tick from the profile of thousands of people, including celebrities, journalists, and politicians such as Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bill Gates, and Kim Kardashian.
The social media platform and the media organizations mentioned did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the removal of the tag.
