Twitter Changes NPR's Labels Again, Now Branded as 'Government-Funded' Media from 'State-affiliated'

The National Public Radio, a state-funded independent platform, claims its reporters, are seeing a new label on Twitter as part of their verification, with a change from "US state-affiliated" to now "Government-funded." Twitter's verification badge centers on adding new labels already, as part of Elon Musk's previous promise to bring more clarity to who these people or organizations are, providing the public with more context.

Still, this change with NPR has been a significant debacle on the platform, with the organization and its reporters previously raising it with Musk and Twitter, only receiving a poop emoji as a response.

Twitter Changes NPR's Labels Again, Now 'Government-Funded'

NPR's Twitter account is now displaying a new label, as it was previously removed after the backlash that the short-word social media and its leader received. It is now regarded as a "Government-Funded Media" on the platform, which was changed from the controversial "US State-Affiliated" label from the past weeks.

The media organization's reporter, Bobby Allyn, shared the news on a thread claiming that it was officially changed by Twitter, with Mr. Tweet confirming it to him. Allyn further claimed that Musk said this label is applying to several other institutions on the platform, updating their label online.

NPR: From State-Affiliated to Government-Funded Label

NPR claims that while it is government-funded, it is separate from the US government's media, not under the control of the country to push for its information and releases to the public.

Last week's label of "state-affiliated" was denounced by the organization, including NPR President and CEO John Lansing.

The government-funded media label may be more accurate for NPR now, but Allyn and other reporters are now questioning to who it only applies, seeing as Tesla also received subsidies from the government but seems to be missing the label.

Twitter's Verification and Labeling Online

Several changes on Twitter centered on its verification program back when Elon Musk first stepped in as the company's executive. The changes were made final with Twitter 2.0, the massive change to what the company offers the public, centering on its verification subscription under the Twitter Blue service.

Another revamp of Twitter on its platform is the Labels that come with verification, and the company claims that this centers on providing more context on what or who the account is, for the public to know more. Last year, the company also delivered political labels to accounts to tell if they are working under a country's government or a politician of it.

The Twitter Verification's Labels provide additional information as to who an account is or what it is made for, but when it got out of hand with NPR, the company decided to change it again.

It is true that NPR is government-funded, but is independent of what the country wants it to portray with its editorial management, but is unknown if this is an acceptable label for the media entity.