The BBC and the British government are offended by Twitter accurately describing the British Broadcasting Corporation as “government-funded media”:
Elon Musk has risked a row with the BBC by labelling it as ‘government-funded media’ on Twitter.
The Corporation is mainly funded by British taxpayers, who pay a £159-a-year licence fee.
Although the government sets how much the licence fee is, not everyone has to pay it, and households pay directly.
When someone clicks on the BBC’s new label, it brings them to a page about government accounts and state-affiliated media accounts. Twitter described state-affiliated media accounts as: ‘Outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.’
The page does not include a definition for its ‘government-funded media’ label.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.’
There is nothing “independent” about the BBC. If a British person does not pay his licence fee, it is a criminal act with a penalty that averages £176 with a legal maximum of £1,000. The fact that the tax is paid directly to the corporation rather than going through the government does not change the fact that the funding for the BBC is imposed on the British public by His Majesty’s Government with the power of the law.
In summary, Twitter is entirely correct to describe the BBC as “government-funded media”, because without the threat of government force, the funding would not be provided to the corporation.