Prime minister Justin Trudeau has waded into a feud over Twitter’s decision to label Canada’s public broadcaster as “government-funded”, accusing his main political rival Pierre Poilievre of enlisting the help of tech executives in an attempt to defund the network.
Last week, the Conservative leader called on Twitter owner Elon Musk to label the English-language feed of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “government-funded” – but stopped short of asking for the French arm of the network to also be given the same label.
On Monday, the broadcaster said it would “pause our activities on Twitter” after some of the network’s feeds started carrying the label “government-funded media”.
Soon after, the account’s label was changed to “69% Government-funded Media” by Twitter. The label had previously read “70% Government-funded Media”, but Musk said the “Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label”.
“Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on Twitter,” the CBC tweeted.
Poilievre previously praised the decision, tweeting that “now people know that it is Trudeau propaganda, not news” and directing users to a Conservative party petition to defund the network, a long-running goal of the party.
CBC has disputed the “government-funded” label, saying the broadcaster was “publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation that is voted upon by all Members of Parliament”. Under the country’s Broadcast Act, the CBC is also guaranteed editorial independence. Radio-Canada, the immensely popular French language broadcaster, is funded through the same appropriations.
Poilievre has not suggested he would defund the French language services, which he says provide a valuable resource for the linguistic minority. But political analysts also suggest the Conservative leader was hoping to avoid angering voters in Quebec, where he will need to perform well if he hopes to topple Trudeau in the next election.
“Attacking this Canadian institution, attacking the culture and local content that is so important to so many Canadians, really indicates the values and the approach that Mr Poilievre is putting forward,” Trudeau told reporters on Monday. “In order to attack this institution that is important for many, many Canadians, he runs to American billionaires, the tech giants that they continue to defend.”
Twitter owner Musk has made a number of controversial changes to the popular social networking site, including asking users to pay for “verified” blue accounts, revoking the verification of the New York Times and labeling broadcaster National Public Radio as “state-affiliated” media. The broadcaster announced last week it would leave Twitter in protest. Public TV broadcaster PBS also suspended tweets, citing the same reason.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also objected to Twitter labeling it as “government-funded media” on the company’s main account and Musk said the social media platform will now change the BBC’s label.
When asked for comment on its decision to label CBC’s English language wing as “government-funded”, Twitter’s communications department responded to the Guardian with an auto-generated poop emoji.
