Updates: The BBC has said it is talking to Twitter in an effort to replace the “government funded media” tag on its official account. A spokesperson said: “We are talking to Twitter to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. The BBC is independent, and always has been. We are funded by the British public through the license fee.
Of earlierElon Musk’s Twitter calls the BBC “government funded media”.
Social media network transitioned to official @ BBC account after courting controversy by adding a similar tag to the NPR account in the recent past.
The BBC account has 2.2M followers. At the time of publication (4pm PST, 8 April), BBC news accounts on Twitter did not have a “government-funded” tag.
The BBC is not funded by the UK government. It is funded by the British public through a system known as the license fee.
The government plays a role in setting the level of the license fee, but the fee is collected by companies contracted by the BBC through the TV Licensing Authority.
The BBC’s operations and editorial decision-making are completely independent of the government.
Musk will have a case for labeling the @BBCWorldService account as government-funded because the state contributes some of the money to viewers outside the UK. The @BBC account does not Tweet about World Service operations.
Deadline contacted Twitter for comment. The company’s press account automatically responded with a poop emoji. The BBC has been contacted for comment.