Elon Musk Removes Twitter’s ‘Government-Funded Media’ Labels

Twitter has now removed the "government-funded" and "state-affiliated" labels that caused several news outlets to stop tweeting. According to NPR reporter Bobby Allyn, Elon Musk says Twitter dropped the labels because Walter Isaacson, the author of his upcoming biography, suggested it.

The labels have already disappeared from the profiles of NPR, PBS, CBC, and BBC, which all publically criticized the move. After being labeled "state-affiliated," NPR left the platform as the first major media organization, followed by PBS and CBC.

State-controlled media outlets, such as RT in Russia and Xinhua News in China, have also removed the labels. The page where Twitter once outlined its criteria for adding the media labeling labels has been taken down, but it is still accessible on the Internet Archive.

Since the labels have been removed from NPR, PBS, and CBC, they have not said whether they will resume their Twitter activities. According to CBC spokesperson Leon Mar, the organization will put its Twitter accounts on hold while it reviews this latest development. Just a day after Twitter started removing legacy verified checkmarks and charging users, Musk decided to pull labels for news organizations on the platform. However, Musk gave a Blue checkmark free of charge to Twitter critics LeBron James and Stephen King.