Public radio of Canada (CBC) and its French-language version Radio-Canada announced on Monday that they were leaving Twitter after the social network called them a government-funded outlet, questioning their editorial independence.

In a statement, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada said Twitter had added the new “government-funded media” label to its profiles, the same distinction it makes for mainstream news outlets in authoritarian countries like China and the United States. Russia.

“In the case of CBC/Radio-Canada, this label is false and misleading,” the statement said.

Although the radio is publicly funded, he said its editorial independence is protected by Canadian media law.

“Twitter can be a powerful tool for our journalists to communicate with Canadians, but it undermines the accuracy and professionalism of their work by allowing our independence to be misrepresented in this way.”

“As a result, we will stop our activity on corporate accounts and all news-related accounts of CBC and Radio-Canada.”

The station invited Canadians to follow its service on other social networks.

Last week, Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wrote to Twitter owner Elon Musk asking him to put the label on public radio.

“Now people know this is Trudeau propaganda, not news,” he tweeted after the announcement.

In response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recalled Monday the independence of the media and criticized the attitude of his opponents.

“The Conservative Party has chosen to attack an institution important to many Canadians, and they have chosen to do so by going to see the billionaires of the internet giants in the United States,” he lamented.

CBS/Radio-Canada’s Twitter outlet joins others like National Public Radio (NPR) in the US on the same label, which it also awarded to the UK’s BBC.

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