According to Twitter, the British broadcaster BBC does not want to be described as a “state-financed” medium. “The BBC is independent and always has been,” the broadcaster said, according to reports on Sunday. “We are funded by the British public through license fees,” the statement said. The company contacted Twitter about the matter. The category designation “state-funded media” recently appeared on the @BBC Twitter account, which is followed by around 2.2 million users. Other BBC accounts for individual programs or news programs do not have a corresponding mark.
The BBC’s criticism follows a row between US broadcaster NPR and the social network after Twitter temporarily described the @NPR account as “state-controlled”. The social network thus marked the US public broadcaster as well as the news agencies Xinhua from China or Tass from Russia. NPR chief John Lansing called Twitter’s move “unacceptable.” Meanwhile, Twitter has also changed the label for NPR to “government-funded.” But even this classification is problematic: NPR is independent and funding comes from a public fund and donations and contributions from affiliated broadcasters. No tweets have been made from the @NPR account since April 5 because of the dispute.
DPA