NPR Quits Twitter After Musk’s Social Network Labels Its Account ‘Government-Funded Media’

Todd Spangler
Updated ·3 min read
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UPDATED: National Public Radio is suspending all activity on Twitter effective immediately, after the public radio broadcaster said the Elon Musk-owned platform’s “government-funded media” label on its account falsely implies NPR is not editorially independent of the U.S. government.

NPR is the biggest news organization to quit Twitter since Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the company last fall.

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Last week, Twitter added a label to NPR’s primary account that says it is “US state-affiliated media,” which CEO John Lansing slammed as “unacceptable.” The social network later modified that to say NPR is “government-funded media.” According to NPR, on average, less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes in the form of grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and federal agencies and departments.

“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” a spokesperson for the organization said in a statement to Variety. “We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public’s understanding of our editorial independence.”

Twitter also recently added the “government-funded media” label to the accounts of PBS and the BBC.

In a thread NPR posted Wednesday on Twitter, which are presumably its final posts for now, the organization detailed how supporters can continue to follow the broadcaster online, including on other social platforms. “We are turning away from Twitter but not from our audiences and communities,” the NPR rep said. “There are plenty of ways to stay connected and keep up with NPR’s news, music, and cultural content.”

After NPR announced it was stepping away from Twitter, Musk posted what appeared to be an email inquiry from NPR reporter Bobby Allyn, who asked the mogul whether the organization’s exit from the platform “will cause a chain reaction among news orgs.” To that, Musk replied, “Defund @NPR.”

Musk then added, “NPR literally said ‘Federal funding is essential to public radio’ on their own website (now taken down). What hypocrites!” and then commented, “Guess they won’t mind losing Federal funding in that case 🤷‍♂️”

Musk, the multibillionaire who also is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, gave an impromptu interview to the BBC on Tuesday during which he called his takeover of the company “quite painful” and said “I’ve been under constant attack” since he bought Twitter.

BBC had objected to the “government-funded” description on its Twitter account and asked the company to resolve the issue “as soon as possible.” In the BBC interview, Musk said Twitter would be willing to change the label for the BBC’s account to say it is “publicly funded” rather than “government funded.”

Meanwhile, Musk earlier this month pulled the gold verification badge for the New York Times. Musk cited the Times’ public statement that it would not pay for verified status on Twitter, which announced a program to charge companies and brands $1,000 per month for check-mark verification (but reportedly with exceptions for large accounts).

“I must confess to some delight in removing the verification badge from the New York Times,” Musk said in the BBC interview. “Anyway they’re still alive and well so they’re doing well.”

In another bid to generate revenue, Twitter said it is retiring “legacy” blue check-marks granted under the company’s previous criteria to celebrities and other notable individuals unless they pay for the Twitter Blue service (starting at $8/month). Musk claimed that “4/20” will be the final date for Twitter’s removal of legacy blue check-marks.

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