This was inevitable...if anything, I’m surprised it took this long:
NPR quits Twitter after being falsely labeled as 'state-affiliated media'
NPR will no longer post fresh content to its 52 official Twitter feeds, becoming the first major news organization to go silent on the social media platform. In explaining its decision, NPR cited Twitter's decision to first label the network "state-affiliated media," the same term it uses for propaganda outlets in Russia, China and other autocratic countries.
The decision by Twitter last week took the public radio network off guard. When queried by NPR tech reporter Bobby Allyn, Twitter owner Elon Musk asked how NPR functioned. Musk allowed that he might have gotten it wrong.
Twitter then revised its label on NPR's account to "government-funded media." The news organization says that is inaccurate and misleading, given that NPR is a private, nonprofit company with editorial independence. It receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
By going silent on Twitter, NPR's chief executive says the network is protecting its credibility and its ability to produce journalism without "a shadow of negativity."
"The downside, whatever the downside, doesn't change that fact," NPR CEO John Lansing said in an interview. "I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility."
The next major phase in Elon Musk’s “enshittification” of Twitter (as Cory Doctorow puts it) will come next Thursday, April 20th:
In the meantime, you can find me at any of the following links. For now I’m still cross-posting at Twitter, Mastodon and Spoutible, but sooner or later I’ll likely have to abandon Twitter entirely.
I don’t see Mastodon and Spoutible as being an either/or sort of thing; both have a lot of upsides and a lot of potential:
UPDATE: I see a lot of hostility towards anyone who remains on Twitter. While I understand the sentiment, if you want to encourage those you follow there to leave the platform, I strongly recommend following them on Mastodon, Spoutible, Post or whatever other platforms they’re available on as well.