NPR quits Twitter after being labeled as ‘state-affiliated media’

National Public Radio announced on Wednesday that it was quitting Twitter after the social media platform labeled it as “state-affiliated media,” a move it claims undermines its credibility. 

Last week, Twitter labeled NPR’s main Twitter account as “state-affiliated media,” which is used to identify media outlets that are influenced by authoritarian governments. 

Later in the week, Twitter revised the label to “government-funded media,” since NPR received a small portion of its funding from the U.S. government through grants from federal agencies and departments and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

However, the company said that government funding accounts for less than 1% of its $300 million annual operating budget. On its website, NPR defines itself as “an independent, non-profit media organization.”

"The downside, whatever the downside, doesn't change that fact," NPR CEO John Lansing said in an interview. "I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility."

As a result, NPR said on 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 CEO responded to NPR’s actions by tweeting “Defund @NPR.”

NPR joined Twitter in 2007 but has not tweeted anything since April 4. NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara said NPR employees, journalists, and member stations can decide for themselves whether to keep using the platform since they have not been given the “government-funded label yet.”

"It would be a disservice to the serious work you all do here to continue to share it on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards," Lansing told NPR staff in an email.