Twitter Owner Elon Musk Lashes Back At National Public Radio (NPR) After It Quits Twitter For Being Tagged As “State-Affiliated Media” By The Platform

Elon Musk gave a fiery response to National Public Radio after the news organization quit the Twitter platform in retaliation to being labeled as “state-affiliated media.”

On Wednesday, NPR announced in a statement that it will de-emphasize Twitter to prevent having its credibility called into question.

The statement read:

“We believe this label is intended to call in question our editorial independence and undermine our credibility. If we continued tweeting, every post would carry that misleading label.”

A correspondent from NPR asked Musk to respond to a query regarding the incident, and he tweeted the question along with a short two-word response. 

Bobby Allyn received the following email from technology:

“Because of the label, NPR is quitting Twitter across all of our 50+ accounts. Our executives say the government-funded media label calls into question our editorial independence and undermines our credibility.”

Allyn questioned: 

“Some wonder if this will cause a chain reaction among news orgs. What’s your reaction?” 

 Musk tweeted:

“Defund @NPR.”

The President and CEO of NPR, John Lansing, stated:

“NPR and our member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy.”

Conservatives and many other critics have been urging for years that the government should cease funding NPR over allegations of the organization’s left-wing tendency.

Numerous news sources implied that NPR’s departure from Twitter would be the dawn of a mass departure from the popular microblogging outlet.