Twitter labeled the account of CBC (the English section of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) as a "government-funded media outlet," which sparked objections from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a public media outlet.

This move by Twitter comes less than a week after the leader of the Canadian Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, called for CBC to be labeled in this way. The Conservatives are the official opposition in the Canadian House of Commons.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, with its two sections English (CBC) and French (Radio-Canada), also opposed this new labeling by Twitter. It issued a statement last night reminding of its "independence," as a public media outlet, from the Canadian government.

"CBC / Radio-Canada is funded by public money through parliamentary appropriation voted on by all members (of Parliament)," wrote the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on its Twitter account last night. However, "its editorial independence is legally protected through the Broadcasting Act," the corporation added, repeating what it had previously stated in a press release last week.

In its defense against those who, like Poilievre, accuse it of being "controlled" by the state, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reminded that its work is subject to the "Journalistic Standards and Practices" guide, a strict and transparent guide related to the ethics and integrity of the journalism profession, and it is also subject to "an independent complaints system through the ombudspersons at Radio-Canada and CBC."

All these, in the view of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, are guarantees of its independence and prevention of any potential political interference in its work.

Also, Twitter did not label the institutional account of CBC / Radio-Canada with the "government-funded media" mark, nor did it do so with the accounts of Radio-Canada.

Today, CBC / Radio-Canada announced it would suspend its activities on Twitter, but allowed its journalists and other media employees to continue using this platform on the condition they respect the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices guide, as usual.

For his part, the Conservative leader did not hide his pleasure with Twitter’s decision.

"CBC has officially been revealed as a 'government-funded media,'" Poilievre said yesterday, adding that "people now know that it (CBC) is propaganda for (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau, not news."

However, the Liberal Prime Minister today expressed his regret that the leader of the official opposition sought the help of “American billionaires” at Twitter to attack CBC / Radio-Canada.

Trudeau accused Poilievre of resorting to a multinational American company to "attack our institutions" in Canada.

It is also noted that Twitter, under the directive of its new owner Elon Musk, is redefining account verifications on its platform.

But the new label added to media profiles, indicating that governments "can intervene, to varying degrees, in their editorial content," cannot apply to CBC / Radio-Canada, as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation argued.

Twitter also recently changed its classification of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States, marking them as "government-funded" institutions.

Twitter considered the mentioned American public radio a "state-affiliated" media outlet, placing it in the same category as media owned by governments of countries like China and Russia.

It is noted that CBC / Radio-Canada received 1.2 billion dollars from public federal funds in the fiscal year 2021 - 2022.