Now PBS leaves Twitter over 'government-funded media' label

(Representative Image)

US-based Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has become the latest media organisation to boycott Twitter after the micro-blogging platform labelled it as "government-funded media".

PBS told Variety that it "stopped tweeting" from its accounts when the broadcaster learned of the change. The official account hasn't tweeted since April 8, as Elon Musk-owned social media platform continues to run foul of users over the changes that have followed the maverick billionaire's takeover of Twitter.

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The broadcaster said it has no plans to "resume at this time" and was monitoring "the ever-changing situation closely".

Like NPR, PBS has said the label is inaccurate because federal funding only accounts for 15 percent of the total revenue. Of the rest, 13 percent comes from the state government, 12 from businesses, 10 from various foundations, 31 from individuals, 8 from universities, 4 from public broadcasters, 3 from the local government and 4 percent is miscellaneous.

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The organisation said they it exited Twitter to protect its credibility as the "government-funded media label implies the government has influence over it.

BBC and NPR have also protested the use of the label, and after an interview with Musk, BBC's label now reads "publicly-funded media".