The Blubber

CBC/Radio-Canada announced that it is "pausing" its use of Twitter after the social media platform labeled its main account as "government-funded media." The decision was made public on Monday afternoon in a statement by CBC media relations director Leon Mar, who expressed concern that the label undermines the accuracy and professionalism of CBC's journalism by falsely describing its independence.

"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," Mar said. "Consequently, we will be pausing our activity on our corporate Twitter account and all CBC and Radio-Canada news-related accounts."

Mar added that Twitter did not consult CBC before applying the label on Sunday, prompting the public broadcaster to send a letter to Twitter requesting a re-examination of the designation. Twitter's website defines "government-funded media" as outlets funded by the government with potential government involvement in editorial content. Mar argued that CBC does not meet these criteria, as it is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation voted on by MPs, and its editorial independence is protected by the Broadcasting Act.

In the 2021-22 fiscal year, CBC received over $1.2 billion in government funding, down from about $1.4 billion the previous year. The CBC's board of directors determines how this funding is spent. The broadcaster also generated other revenue of $650 million in 2021-22 and $500 million the year before.

Twitter's labeling of CBC's account has been described as "hugely problematic" by Dwayne Winseck, a professor at Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication. Winseck believes the label fails to capture CBC's funding nuances and editorial independence and could "delegitimize" public service media. He suggests that CBC should collaborate with other public service media outlets, such as National Public Radio (NPR), to develop a shared strategy for dealing with social media giants.

NPR previously announced its departure from Twitter after being labeled "state-affiliated media," a term often linked to outlets controlled by authoritarian regimes. Twitter later changed the label to "government-funded media" and applied it to other publishers, including the BBC, which was initially exempt from the "state-affiliated media" label. The BBC's label was subsequently changed to "publicly-funded media."

Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University's master of public policy in digital society, supported CBC's decision to pause its use of Twitter. Bednar said the label erroneously positions CBC as a government extension lacking intellectual independence and suggested that this is an opportunity to clarify CBC's funding and editorial independence.

The labeling changes on Twitter occurred as Elon Musk, who acquired the company for $44 billion in October 2022, continues to lead the platform. Musk has pledged several changes, including removing verified blue check marks for non-subscribers and temporarily changing Twitter's logo to a shiba inu dog, referencing the Dogecoin cryptocurrency. Bednar commented on Musk's changes, questioning whether users would exit the platform or "silence their digital voices" in response to "incremental, strange, random" changes.

Twitter responded to multiple requests for comment regarding the label with an auto-generated email bearing a poop emoji.