Probably some of our readers are chuckling this week at the chaos that has broken out on Twitter over the correct verification labels for various public broadcasters. A couple of days ago, Elon Musk, the owner and CEO of the social media site, made an appearance on BBC television and was challenged on Twitter’s decision to give the BBC’s main account a “government-funded media” label. The “government-funded” tag isn’t meant to be purely a criticism or warning: in Twitter’s scheme of tags, a media company or news agency that is directly government-controlled and used to promote a country’s foreign policy would attract a different “state-affiliated” label.
