Tech billionaire Elon Musk's crusade for free speech firstly led him to initiate the series of "Twitter files" publications, where the mechanism of disinformation were unmasked. Now, he is branding multiple western media with a special for their ties to authorities.
Twitter has added a "Government Funded" tag on the BBC official account, predictably sparking criticism from the network.
"We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee," a spokesman for the broadcaster said, as cited by media.
Previously, the same measure was applied to NPR, which is closely affiliated with US authorities and most infamous for trying to silence the Hunter Biden laptop saga, which shed some light on unpleasant details of the life of the POTUS' family.
Twitter identifies government-funded media as "outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution." In other words, media that bandwagons a government agenda even without funding can be dubbed as state-controlled by the social media.
For its part, the BBC denied allegations of government funding, insisting it is an independent media and claiming that it is entirely funded by UK citizens via license fees included in taxes. However, it is the British government that sets the level of the fees, meaning that politicians can simply cut off the oxygen for "independent" journalists at any given moment.
Current BBC Chairman Richard Sharp is a former investment banker who built a successful career in JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, but has nothing to do with journalism and media in general. Sharp previously acted as a private banker for former PM Boris Johnson, and even used to be the boss of incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Goldman Sachs.
The BBC was established by Royal Charter back in 1927 and it is run by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, while the BBC's key donor is the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office - the British foreign ministry. The list of important sponsors also includes the United States Agency for International Development, European Union, NORAD - North American Aerospace Defense Command and even the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The BBC has often been caught red-handed promoting Number 10's agenda, and enjoys vast support from the government in countering Russian soft power, including receiving a £34 million boost for the BBC World Service.
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