On Monday the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation briefly stopped its activity on Twitter, after the social media platform’s owner Elon Musk labeled the account as “69 per cent government-funded media.”
Adrian Mazzocco is a real estate agent in Toronto and feels that the social media platform could be clearer with its designation label system.
“I completely agree with the decision for CBC to leave Twitter,” Mazzocco said.
“This could be done by differentiating Government funded and government-influenced designations depending on the actual situation, instead of grouping them as one,” he said.
Under Twitter’s platform use and guidelines, an article called, “About Government and Media Account Labels on Twitter,” explains how government accounts and government-funded media are defined on the platform.
The article states that the label, government-funded media, is given to “outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding.” Further explaining, that an outlet may have government participation with editorial content.
This implies that CBC’s content is over 50 per cent funded by the government and may be revised based on the Canadian government's hand.
After the label was placed on Monday, CBC posted in response on Twitter revealing that, “CBC is publicly funded through parliamentary appropriation that was voted upon by Members of Parliament.”
The Appropriation Act, approved by Members of Parliament, is a bill that could be approved by Parliament. Once it is approved, the bill is then granted royal assent and becomes an Appropriation Act.
Under the Appropriation Act, the Consolidated Revenue Fund is then authorized to pay for government programs and services, according to the Government of Canada’s information about Appropriation Acts and Supply Bills.
The Parliamentary Appropriation further reveals that CBC is partially funded by Consolidated Revenue Fund, through the Government of Canada.
Every year, appropriation acts are approved by Parliament through royal assent, according to the Government of Canada’s website.
CBC further explained that its journalism content is “independent and subjected to its Journalistic Standards and Practices.”
Also states, “its editorial independence is protected by law with the Broadcasting Act.”
On April 11, CBC received a letter from Twitter urging them to use the government-funded media label on its account and related accounts, according to CBC’s “Get the Facts” article released on April 12.
After the letter, Twitter then placed the label “69 per cent government-funded media”
on CBC’s Twitter accounts Monday.
As both companies face challenges due to this situation, residents and social media users have yet to see the next steps for Twitter and CBC.
Edited by Kavya Venkateshwaran
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