Elon Musk threatens to reassign NPR’s Twitter handle as feud escalates

Twitter boss Elon Musk is reportedly threatening to reassign National Public Radio’s Twitter handle after it stopped tweeting in protest of its “government funded media” designation by the social media site.

Bobby Allyn, an NPR reporter, wrote that he received an unsolicited email from Musk informing him that he planned to transfer control of the @NPR handle to another entity if the media organization doesn’t resume its activities on the microblogging platform.

NPR last month said it would cease tweeting to its nearly 9 million Twitter followers after the platform likened the member-supported news network to state-run media entities such as China’s Xinhua News Agency and the Kremlin-affiliated outlet Russia Today.

On April 5, Twitter added a “US state-affiliated media” designation to NPR’s Twitter account.

After NPR protested, Twitter altered the designation to “government funded media.”

“So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?” Musk reportedly wrote to Allyn on Tuesday.

Allyn noted that Twitter’s terms of service call for the removal of a handle only if the account holder fails to log in at least one time every 30 days.

Twitter also states in its terms of service that “prolonged inactivity” can result in the permanent removal of a handle.

The terms of service do not state that users must tweet in order to keep their accounts active.

Allyn wrote that he asked Musk whether he planned to change Twitter’s terms of service to reflect his demand that users must tweet in order to keep their handles.

“Our policy is to recycle handles that are definitively dormant,” Musk wrote in another email to Allyn.

“Same policy applies to all accounts. No special treatment for NPR.”

When asked on Twitter about who would possibly take over NPR’s account, Musk quipped: “National Pumpkin Radio.” He added a fire emoji and laughing emoji.

“NPR isn’t tagged as government-funded anymore, so what’s the beef?” Musk asked.

Musk tweeted last month that NPR met the site’s definition of “state-affiliated 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.”

John Lansing, NPR’s president and CEO, issued a statement which read: “We were disturbed to see last night that Twitter has labeled NPR as ‘state-affiliated media,’ a description that, per Twitter’s own guidelines, does not apply to NPR.”

“NPR and our Member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide,” Lansing said. “NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable.”

Twitter also ran afoul of another public major outlet, the British Broadcasting Corporation, which was labeled by Musk’s site as “government funded media.”

According to NPR’s website, the two largest sources of revenue are corporate sponsorships and fees paid by members and subscribers.

In fiscal year 2020, NPR said that 8% of its revenues were from federal appropriation by way of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — the government-run nonprofit which was created by the Johnson administration in 1967.

NPR said that 5% of its revenue was derived from “federal, state, and local governments.”