Russia's President Vladimir Putin presents flowers to editor-in-chief of Russian broadcaster RT ... [+]
Twitter has dropped all labels that warn users when a media outlet may be funded by various governments around the world, including everything from NPR to Russia’s RT. And the editor-in-chief of RT expressed her thanks for the move on Twitter, attracting criticism from Twitter users who are upset about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The decision to drop all labels occurred late Thursday and was reportedly an idea from Walter Isaacson, the author of several books on famous men, who’s currently working on a book about Twitter CEO Elon Musk. NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn reported on Friday that Musk explained, “This was Walter Isaacson’s suggestion.”
Several western media organizations expressed frustration when their accounts, including PBS, Canada’s CBC and NPR, were labeled with “government-funded media” descriptors. NPR protested because only about 2% of its funding came from the federal government. Most of NPR’s funding is from corporate sponsorships and fees charged to local radio stations.
But government funded media outlets in other countries sometimes got a different label, marked as “state-affiliated media,” to signify the outlets didn’t have any editorial independence. China’s Xinhua and Russia’s RT received those labels, along with reporters closely affiliated with those outlets.
RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan had a label until Thursday night, when all the labels started to disappear.
“Twitter de-labeled me and all of our channels as 'public funded media'. Now you can even find me in the search,” RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan tweeted on Friday, according to an English-language translation.
Simonyan went on to thank Elon Musk by name, “from the heart.”
Simonyan has been a chief propagandist for Vladimir Putin’s regime by openly celebrating censorship in the country, defending a media figure who suggested drowning Ukrainian kids, even saying that Russia should use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine.
