Twitter finally removed its controversial labels on Friday that labeled major international media accounts as “government-funded” or “state-affiliated.” Affected by this measure, which led it to cease its activities on the social network at the beginning of the week, CBC / Radio-Canada maintains its accounts on pause for the moment.
“We are reviewing the latest developments and, until we take the next steps, we maintain the suspension of our activities on Twitter,” said Leon Mar, spokesman for the state company, by email.
The mention “funded by the government” was attached last Sunday to the Twitter account of the English-speaking counterpart of the broadcaster, shortly after a request to that effect from Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. CBC / Radio-Canada then announced Monday to cease its activities on the social network, judging this label erroneous.
Indeed, according to the policy of the social network, a so-called “government-funded” media is a media where the government “can intervene to varying degrees in the editorial content”. This is not the case with CBC / Radio-Canada. Its spokesperson recalled this week that “as all Canadians know, CBC / Radio-Canada is publicly funded. Its editorial independence is protected by the Broadcasting Act”.
By putting its accounts on pause, the public broadcaster thus followed in the footsteps of the American public media NPR and PBS, which had reacted in the same way to this new measure by the multi-billionaire and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk.
By Friday morning, their tags had also disappeared from their accounts. But neither NPR nor PBS had resumed their activities so far.
It should be noted that state media such as the Russia Today channel or the China Xinhua News agency have also lost their mention of “state-affiliated media”.
End of blue brackets
The removal of these labels comes at the same time that the blue brackets, which made it possible to distinguish verified Twitter accounts – mainly media, journalists, politicians and public figures – became officially payable, at the cost of 8 US dollars per month .
The vast majority of these blue brackets were therefore removed on Thursday afternoon from the pages that did not subscribe to this new authentication subscription. Among them, many public figures around the world. In Quebec, host Guy A. Lepage caused a stir when he announced his departure from the platform, after losing his famous hook.
“Only 6% of Quebecers use Twitter, which is not very much. But that includes 100% of morons, which is too much. Paying to be insulted is no! Do not spoof anyway, “said the one who was followed by nearly half a million subscribers.
On the political side, all the leaders of Quebec parties have lost their hook. At the federal level, among the four main parties, only Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre still wore the famous blue hook. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has a gray check mark, which means the account is verified because it is a government account.
Many journalist and media accounts have also lost the small symbol, including The duty.