Let’s remember briefly: Earlier, Elon Musk removed restrictions on some pages of Russian and Chinese authorities and mass media, returning them to search and user feeds. In addition, the labels “state-controlled media” or “state-sponsored media” have been removed from them.

At the same time, various Western broadcasters such as the British BBC, Canadian CBC, American National Public Radio (NPR) and others were somehow given such labels, despite all claiming to be completely independent. This has forced some media outlets to announce the suspension of their activities on the platform. What is most interesting is that some of Musk’s own companies, such as SpaceX, receive much more money from the state budget than the above-mentioned publications, but the head of the social network accidentally forgets about their company.

it’s getting worse

The source noted that Twitter has removed the “government” and “government-funded” tags from all media accounts, including NPR, CBC, and the BBC. Anyone who has such tags is no longer viewing them. Presumably, this was done at the tagging level, not at the individual account level.

It is not clear how effective such a designation is in general, whether anyone paid attention to it – such statistics do not exist. But the public is worried that the social network legalizes the activities of propagandists and the emergence of fake news under the pretext of “freedom of expression” and supposed equality.

Presumably, the decision to completely remove these marks from the site arose precisely against the background of statements by NPR and CBC about the end of their activities on Twitter. Other publications may follow them. Considering that many people use the social network only as a news source, this entire audience of Twitter Blue’s potential followers and viewers of endless ads could leave them, resulting in a drop in revenue. If so, Musk is sacrificing his claim of a “digital town square” where truth grows for money.