CBC rage quits Twitter after Elon Musk accurately labels them government-funded media

CBC/Radio-Canada has decided to pause its use of Twitter following the labeling of its main account as "government-funded media" by the social media platform.

The decision comes after Twitter applied the same tag to National Public Radio.

CBC's media relations director, Leon Mar, released a statement on Monday afternoon, stating that Twitter can be a tool for journalists to communicate with Canadians, but allowing the broadcaster's independence to be "falsely" described undermines the work they do.

The broadcaster is pausing its activity on its corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts.

Mar also emailed The Canadian Press, saying that Twitter had not consulted the public broadcaster before applying the label, and thus, CBC had sent a letter to Twitter asking the company to re-examine the designation.

Twitter defines "government-funded media" as "outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content."

In 2021-22, CBC received over $1.2 billion in government funding, a decrease from about $1.4 billion the year before, with other revenue totaling $650 million in 2021-22 and $500 million the year before. CBC's board of directors determines how the funding it receives is spent.

Twitter has responded to multiple requests for comment regarding why the label was applied and whether it would be removed or changed with an auto-generated email bearing a poop emoji,  CTV reports