Elon Musk says Twitter will update BBC's 'government-funded media' tag

Twitter will update the BBC’s ‘government-funded media’ tag, Elon Musk tells the corporation – as he reveals there were ‘just under 8,000’ staff when he bought the social media site and now there are ‘1,500’

• Musk said he has ‘utmost respect’ for BBC and wants ‘truthful and accurate’ tags
• He also said despite a ‘really stressful’ start, Twitter is ‘headed to a good place’

Twitter owner Elon Musk has said the social media site will update the BBC’s ‘government-funded media’ tag after the broadcaster objected to the label.

The corporation contacted Twitter last week after the designation was attached to the main @BBC account.

Mr Musk said he has the ‘utmost respect’ for the BBC and reiterated that the social media site wants tags to be as ‘truthful and accurate as possible’.

It comes as the Tesla founder offered insight into the current state of affairs at Twitter, which he overtook last year. Mr Musk revealed that the firm went from staffing nearly 8,000 employees to now 1,500.

He also reiterated that despite it having been a ‘really quite a stressful situation over the last several months’ he believes the platform is ‘headed to a good place’.

Twitter owner Elon Musk, in an interview with the BBC yesterday (pictured), has said the social media site will update the BBC’s ‘government-funded media’ tag after the broadcaster objected to the label

The corporation contacted Twitter last week after the designation was attached to the main @BBC account

In an interview with the BBC yesterday, Mr Musk said he has the ‘utmost respect’ for the broadcaster, which he previously described as ‘among the least biased’ news organisations.

‘We want (the tag) as truthful and accurate as possible – we’re adjusting the label to (the BBC being) publicly funded – we’ll try to be accurate,’ he said of the tag.

In a statement released in the wake of the ‘government-funded media’ designation, the broadcaster said: ‘The BBC is, and always has been, independent.

‘We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.’

The label links to a page on Twitter’s help centre which says ‘state-affiliated media’ are outlets where the government ‘exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution’.

That label was applied to US broadcaster NPR’s Twitter handle, but it has been changed to government-funded media – the same as the BBC account.

The BBC has always maintained its impartiality and operates through a Royal Charter agreed with government, which says it ‘must be independent’.

Mr Musk said he has the ‘utmost respect’ for the BBC and reiterated that the social media site wants tags to be as ‘truthful and accurate as possible’

Britons pay a £159 licence fee each year to fund the corporation’s output, which is set by government but paid by individual households.

While the BBC account, which has 2.2 million followers, has been given the label, much larger accounts associated with the corporation’s breaking news and sport output are not being described in the same way.

The account mainly tweets about BBC-produced TV programmes, radio shows, podcasts and other non-news material.

Mr Musk was also questioned about the internal operations at the social media network, including staffing.

Several former reporters have tweeted about being sacked from the firm after the billionaire’s overhaul. 

The SpaceX CEO confirmed that when he purchased the company last year for a reported £44billion, there were ‘just under 8,000’ staff members. The firm now employs 1,500 people.

He said that terminating employees is ‘not fun at all’ and in some circumstances was even ‘painful.’ 

Mr Musk admitted that he hasn’t been able to sack everyone in person, adding: ‘It’s not possible to talk with that many people face to face’.

It comes as the Tesla founder revealed that since he bought Twitter, the firm went from staffing nearly 8,000 employees to now 1,500. The company’s San Francisco, California headquarters is pictured earlier this week after the organisation modified its exterior sign

He also reiterated that while the ‘pain level has been extremely high’ since he bought Twitter and launched his campaign to rework the company, he believes it was the right thing to do.

‘Were there many mistakes made a long the way? Of course,’ he told the BBC. ‘But all’s well that ends well, I feel like we’re headed to a good place.’

Mr Musk said that despite the ‘really quite a stressful situation’ he is optimistic about his future goal for the social media site – which is to make it the ‘most accurate’ platform that it can be.

He did acknowledge: ‘No system is going to be perfect’.

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