EPIC: Elon Musk says he might assign @NPR handle on Twitter to another company

Elon Musk has suggested that he might reassign National Public Radio’s Twitter account to "another company."

According to the outlet, Musk “in a series of emails” sent to one of its reporters the Twitter CEO “suggested” he would transfer the network's @NPR handle, to another person or organization writing, "So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?"



Under the social media platform’s terms of service, an account must be logged into at least every 30 days, and that "prolonged inactivity" can result in it being permanently removed.

NPR claimed that it asked Musk if he planned to change the platform's definition of inactivity and declined to say what triggered his questions about the outlet’s inactivity on Twitter.

Musk wrote in another email, "Our policy is to recycle handles that are definitively dormant. Same policy applies to all accounts. No special treatment for NPR," according to the outlet.

Last month, NPR rage quit Twitter after the outlet was labeled "state-affiliated media." Even though the social media platform shortly thereafter tweaked the classification to "government-funded media," the outlet had already made up its mind.

NPR has described itself as a "private, nonprofit company with editorial independence," noting that it "receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting."

Other media organizations, including PBS and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, that were similarly labeled also stopped tweeting.

Even though Musk has since removed the labels, the outlet has not resumed posting on Twitter and instead directs followers to other platforms in order to view content.

NPR also changed its bio on Twitter which read, "NPR is an independent news organization committed to informing the public about the world around us," adding, "You can find us every other place you read the news."

NPR CEO John Lansing said at the time that it would be a "disservice" to his employees to share their reporting "on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards ... I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility."
 
"At this point I have lost my faith in the decision-making at Twitter," Lansing stated. "I would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again." He added that individual journalists can still post from their own profiles on the platform.