Elon Musk's Twitter ends 'State-Affiliated Media’ label, provoking concerns and outrage

Twitter's recent decision to reverse its labelling of outlets receiving government funding as "state-affiliated media" has sparked both praise and criticism. The labels, which have been in use for several years, were initially applied to publications such as Sputnik and RT, which receive funding from countries that the US government does not view positively.

After the acquisition of Twitter by billionaire Elon Musk, the platform extended its labeling of government-sponsored outlets to include Western media organisations such as NPR, PBS, and Canada's CBC. This decision resulted in these North American publications expressing outrage and ultimately abandoning the platform. NPR, which is funded by the US government, had a particularly somber headline stating, "Twitter once muzzled Russian and Chinese state propaganda. That's over now." Meanwhile, CBC reportedly stated that it has no plans to return to Twitter at this time and is carefully reviewing the situation before taking any further steps.

Musk receives both criticism and praise for the move

A former executive from Twitter, who was interviewed by NPR, expressed disappointment at the use of labels intended to inform people being employed as a tactic to deceive. On the other hand, voices from more independent sources tended to welcome the decision. Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone, who has been critical of Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter in the past, acknowledged that if the change is genuine, it would be a significant improvement as Twitter would function less as a US propaganda tool.

However, it is worth flagging that organisations like NPR and CBC claim that they are not entirely funded by the national governments. They also point out the apparent fact that their source of funding doesn't determine their editorial stance. Their underlying argument is that the journalism they carry out is significantly different from journalism Russian and Chinese outlets carry out. They believe that Twitter is creating a false equivalence.