Elon Musk threatened National Public Radio to reassign its Twitter account after it stopped tweeting. When the radio station reported this threat, Elon responded with the words “You Suck.”
In April, Twitter labeled NPR as “state-affiliated” media. After some people pointed out that this label seemed to contradict Twitter’s Terms of Service, the label changed to “state-funded media.”
NPR announced that it would be abandoning its Twitter account to protest any sort of labeling.
John Lansing wrote that NPR and its member stations receive support from millions of listeners, who rely on the fact-based, independent journalism we provide. Twitter’s labeling us in this manner is unacceptable. “A vibrant, vigorous free press is vital to the health of democracy.”
Musk seemed to agree and remove the labels completely.
NPR’s Twitter account hasn’t been active since April 4, despite the concession.
Musk wrote to NPR in a series of emails that were published by the broadcaster early Tuesday morning. He asked whether he should transfer ownership of his account, which has 9 million followers, to someone else or a company.
Is NPR going back to Twitter? Or should we assign @NPR to a different company? He wrote, according to NPR.
Musk said in an email that “our policy is to recycle handles which are dormant for good”. The same policy is applied to all accounts. “No special treatment for NPR.”
NPR asked Musk which company would be taking over the Twitter account.
He replied with an emoji of a smiling face.
“NPR’s not branded as government-funded anymore, so what is the beef?” He asked.
Musk sent an email after the article was published. The email did not contain a message but instead contained a brief message in its subject line.
“You Suck,” he wrote.
Musk’s threat is not limited to this: