Canada’s public broadcaster CBC and its French-language version Radio-Canada said Monday they were effectively quitting Twitter over a new government-funded label it says questions its editorial independence.
In a statement, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada said Twitter had added a “government-funded media” label to its account, branding it the same way as it does as major media outlets in authoritarian countries such as Russia or China.
“In the case of CBC/Radio-Canada this labelling is untrue and deceptive,” the statement said.
While the broadcaster is publicly funded, it said its editorial independence is protected under Canadian broadcasting law.
“Twitter can be a powerful tool for our journalists to communicate with Canadians, but it undermines the accuracy and professionalism of the work they do to allow our independence to be falsely described in this way,” it said.
“Consequently, we will be pausing our activity on our corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts.”
The broadcaster instead urged Canadians to follow it on other social media.
CBC/Radio-Canada’s Twitter exit follows that of National Public Radio in the United States over the tag, which has also been applied to Britain’s BBC.
Since Elon Musk bought Twitter, the company has relaxed the moderation of content on the network, letting back many users banned because of messages inciting hatred or spreading misinformation.
Musk also slashed Twitter’s workforce from 7,500 to fewer than 2,000 employees.
AFP
