Twitter on Friday stopped providing information on the funding of media organizations after conflicts with various broadcasters over the practice.
The move means that Chinese news agency Xinhua will no longer be referred to as state-financed. The same applies to RT (formerly Russia Today), the television broadcaster widely seen as a Kremlin propaganda outlet.
Twitter introduced the labels to highlight possible state influence on the media concerned. Twitter owner Elon Musk then became involved in clashes with various public broadcasters.
Twitter referred to National Public Radio (NPR) of the United States as state-controlled and subsequently as state-funded. NPR responded that it was editorially independent and drew less than 1% of its $300 million annual budget directly from state funds.
Similar conflicts with Britain's BBC, Canada's CBC and US broadcaster PBS followed. Some of the broadcasters responded by suspending their Twitter accounts.
Reporting the change on its website on Friday, the BBC said it had complained last week after it was given a "government funded" instead of "publicly funded" media label.
