On April 17 (local time) Canadian public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada announced that it has paused its Twitter activities. In a tweet, it wrote, “Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on Twitter.” CBC took the step after Twitter labelled it as Government Funded Media.
Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter. | Notre journalisme est impartial et indépendant. Prétendre le contraire est faux. C’est pourquoi nous suspendons nos activités sur @Twitter.
— CBC/Radio-Canada (@CBCRadioCanada) April 17, 2023
In a Tweet, thread CBC wrote, “Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,” which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada.”
(1/3) Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,” which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada.
— CBC/Radio-Canada (@CBCRadioCanada) April 17, 2023
→ https://t.co/VrGdwTCYzP
It further added that CBC Radio Canada is a publicly funded broadcaster through a parliamentary appropriation that was voted upon by all members of the Parliament in Canada.
(2/3) CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all Members of Parliament. Its editorial independence is protected in law in the Broadcasting Act, as we said in our statement from last week.
— CBC/Radio-Canada (@CBCRadioCanada) April 17, 2023
→ https://t.co/CJeRlk7uc7
Earlier on April 12, in an official statement, CBC Radio Canada pointed out that it received a letter from Twitter urging them to apply for the Government-funded Media label for the CBC’s various news-related accounts.
The statement read, “Yesterday, a letter to Twitter urged the platform to “apply the Government-funded Media label to the CBC’s various news-related accounts.” We can’t comment on the motives behind the letter.
Twitter’s own policy defines government-funded media as cases where the government “may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content,” which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada.
As every Canadian knows, CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded. Its editorial independence is protected by law in the Broadcasting Act.“
‘69 per cent government funded’
Soon after CBC raised objection over the label, Twitter’s CEO Elon Musk took cognisance of the matter and acted accordingly.
Their concern has been addressed pic.twitter.com/pSm6KotlZL
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2023
Commenting on the thread by TitterDaily, he mentioned that the label was changed to ‘70% government funded’ which was in accordance with the 2021-22 annual report of CBC.
The CBC's 2021-2022 annual report revealed it received almost $1.4 billion (70% of its funding) from the federal government. pic.twitter.com/ZvAQojFoi6
— T(w)itter Daily News (@TitterDaily) April 17, 2023
However, a Twitter user pointed out that CBC should get the benefit of the doubt and get a better label of ‘69% government funded’ to which Musk agreed.
Good point, generosity is always the right move. 69% it is!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2023
In a tweet, Musk said, “Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label.”
Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label pic.twitter.com/lU1EWf76Zu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2023
The steps taken by the social media platform did not please the public broadcaster that later announced it would stop its activity on Twitter.
Earlier, other media houses including British Broadcaster BBC stopped their Twitter activities after they were labelled as Government Funded Media.
