‘It’s no longer important to us’

2023-04-18 17:43:00

“Twitter has changed this year and has become less important to us”

The Swedish public radio Sveriges Radio announced that will cease its activities on Twitter as part of a change in its presence on the networks, after the media in the United States and Canada did the same but in rejection of the decisions of Elon Musk’s social network.

“Sveriges Radio has reduced its presence on Twitter a moment ago, and now we have made the decision to completely stop being active on the platform, and to delete a series of accounts,” said the most listened to group of radio stations in the Nordic country in its Blog.

“We need to focus and prioritize SR’s online presence, and Twitter has changed this year and become less important to us”explained the station’s social media manager, Christian Gillinger, reported the AFP news agency.

The American public radio NPR became, last week, the first major outlet to abandon Twitter to protest against the new policies of the platform, bought by Musk in October for 44,000 million dollars.

This is a new certification policy that Twitter will apply as of April 20 and that will provide its blue badge to whoever pays for it, a decision that Musk made after leaving US National Public Radio last Wednesday.

The American radio announced that it would withdraw its account from the social network, after the platform classified it as “state media” y “publicly funded medium”which, he said, casts doubt on his independence.

Swedish public radio, whose main account is labeled “publicly funded medium”, nevertheless said it was not withdrawing from the network on this point, as it considered it to be a “correct definition” of its funding.

US public radio NPR was the first major outlet to leave Twitter to protest its new policies.

The controversy with Twitter has a history: a week before NPR’s decision, the platform had already labeled the radio as “media affiliated with the American state”, as well as the Russian media RT or Sputnik.

Shortly after leaving NPR, the public group CBC/Radio-Canada he did the same, criticizing Twitter’s label of a “government-funded outlet,” a definition that undermines its “independence.”

The change to NPR’s labeling came a few days after the social network remove the blue certification check mark from The New York Times.

NPR and the New York Times are two of the most respected and followed media in the United States and are considered by some conservatives as too progressive.

These announcements take place at a time when Twitter applies a new certification policy and will grant its famous blue badge to whoever pays for it as of April 20.