National Public Radio (NPR) in the US has announced it will stop using Twitter in a row over how its account is described.
The US not-for-profit news organisation clashed with the social media platform over its decision to describe the outlet as "government-funded media".
NPR says it undermines its credibility, as US government funding accounts for less than 1% of its budget.
Twitter owner Elon Musk agreed to change the label on the BBC's account.
Twitter labeled NPR’s main account last week as “state-affiliated media, ” a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, such as Russia and China. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media,” but to NPR — which relies on the government for a tiny fraction of its funding — it’s still misleading.
NPR said in a statement Wednesday that it “will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent.”
Twitter, more than any of its rivals, has said its users come to it to keep track of current events. That made it an attractive place for news outlets to share their stories and reinforced Twitter’s moves to combat the spread of misinformation.
But Musk has long expressed disdain for professional journalists and said he wants to elevate the views and expertise of the “average citizen.”