Screenshot of the ABC News account with its new label on Twitter as "government-funded". Photo: Twitter / ABC News
ABC News has received a new label on Twitter branding the broadcaster as "government-funded media".
The label, according to Twitter, is meant to provide additional context for accounts heavily engaged in geopolitics and diplomacy.
"We're liaising with Twitter regarding changes to account verification and labels," an ABC spokesperson said.
Twitter's new labels have often appeared arbitrarily assigned. Until this week, the "government-funded" label had not appeared for Australian and Canadian public broadcasting organisations.
State-affiliated, government- or publicly-funded
Twitter has been branding media with three new labels: "state-affiliated media", "government-funded media" or "publicly-funded media".
According to its website Twitter defines state-affiliated media as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures and/or control over production and distribution.
The platform defines government-funded media as outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding. It also states that it may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.
Publicly funded media, according to Twitter, refers to media organisations that receive funding from licence fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.
NPR quits Twitter after label
Last week US broadcaster NPR (National Public Radio) announced it was quitting Twitter after the social platform stamped its account with labels the news organisation says were intended to undermine its credibility.
In a statement, the radio broadcaster said it would "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".
Elon Musk responded to the statement by tweeting "Defund @NPR".
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2023
NPR does receive US government funding through grants from federal agencies and departments, along with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The company has said it accounts for less than 1 percent of NPR's annual operating budget. Much of its funding comes from sponsorships and dues from its member stations around the US, which in turn get revenue from a range of funders including public institutions, corporate donors and listeners.
In an interview on Tuesday with a BBC technology reporter at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, Musk acknowledged the British organisation "is not thrilled" about the label it received and asked the reporter for feedback.
"Our goal was simply to be as truthful and accurate as possible," Musk said.
"So I think we're adjusting the label to be 'publicly-funded', which I think is perhaps not too objectionable. We're trying to be accurate."
The BBC said on Wednesday it would welcome being described as publicly funded instead of government-funded. Hours later, BBC got its publicly funded media label.
- ABC
