After Twitter slapped the BBC with a government funded media tag, users are asking Elon Musk when the CBC will get an update.
In recent days, NPR and BBC found “government-funded media” tags on their Twitter profiles.
Social media users are naturally mixed on the issue, but one thing others are wondering about is why the CBC hasn’t received one yet.
The CBC received over $1.2 billion from the federal government in 2021-2022, which accounted for roughly 70% of all its funding.
On Sunday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk was asked why CBC doesn’t have a label yet.
“We need to add more granularity to editorial influence, as it varies greatly,” Musk replied.
Musk added, “I don’t actually think the BBC is as biased as some other government-funded media, but it is silly of the BBC to claim zero influence. Minor government influence in their case would be accurate.”
In December, Musk said all media that receives government funding should be slapped with an affiliated warning label so readers can better calibrate the truth.
“You know how foreign media is labeled on Twitter often as Russian state controlled media,” one user asked Musk.
“Why don’t we do the same thing in the US — with all of these media organizations that are telling us to go to war, you know, why don’t we label them as well? Like ‘US government state media.’”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Musk responded.
Twitter’s policy states that media outlets in receipt of government funding will get labelled accordingly if the government “exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”
On top of two recent whistleblowers quitting and denouncing the network, CBC printed memorable bits of misinformation and “Russia!” conspiracy theories in its 2022 Freedom Convoy reporting.
