(Ottawa) To “protect Canadians from misinformation and manipulation by state media,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre calls on Twitter boss Elon Musk to label CBC organization funded by the Government of Canada.
CBC is a “government funded media”, “it’s a fact, and Canadians deserve the facts”, writes Pierre Poilievre in a tweet that caps a letter dated April 11 that he addresses to Twitter headquarters at San Francisco, California.
He asks, for “transparency”, to designate three CBC accounts as “state-funded media”.
The Conservative leader’s request comes in the wake of the social network’s recent characterization of the radio station NPR in the United States and the BBC channel in the United Kingdom of media affiliated with or financed by their respective government.
When CBC published an article last Thursday reporting NPR’s listing as a state-affiliated news media, like some Russian or Chinese media outlets are, Elon Musk responded with an emoji thoughtful.
The Conservative leader did not make the same request for Radio-Canada. According to what it has sent as a signal so far, public support for the French-language service of the Crown corporation will not fall by the wayside like that of its Anglophone counterpart.
Pierre Poilievre has promised to cut off CBC funding if elected prime minister.
In its Help Center, Twitter defines state-affiliated media organizations “as media whose editorial content is controlled by that state through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressure, and/or control over production and distribution”.
Then this: “State-funded media organizations with editorial independence, such as the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy “.
