BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, has objected to Twitter labelling the media network a 'government-funded organisation'. The network said it has contacted the social media company to resolve what it calls an 'issue' at the earliest. Sanjeev Sanyal, economist, author, and member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, has taken note of the media house's grievance and asked what is wrong with the label since it's 'the truth'.   

"The BBC's defence on being called 'government-funded' that not paying their mandatory fee is not in itself an imprisonable offence but, without a hint of irony, they add that non-payment is criminal act and can lead to prison after all!!" Sanyal tweeted. 

SP Vaid, former DGP of J&K, also reacted to BBC's getting labelled for being state-sponsored and lauded Twitter CEO Elon Musk for the move. "The irony! BBC who gives all sorts of labels to others, don't want to be labelled themselves. Nicely done, @elonmusk (sic)," he tweeted. Several users too tweeted in favour of the decision by Twitter as they believe the BBC is indeed a government-funded media. 

While BBC, in its report, claimed that Musk called it one of the "least biased" outlets, he actually wrote in a tweet that "it is silly of the BBC to claim zero influence" (from the government). Besides, Musk also recently tweeted, "What does BBC stand for again? I keep forgetting," with a follow-up tweet writing, "they have some great material." 

"The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee," a BBC statement said. According to the media house, it received a mail in reply from Musk that read, "We are aiming for maximum transparency and accuracy. Linking to ownership and source of funds probably makes sense. I do think media organizations should be self-aware and not falsely claim the complete absence of bias." The British media house said that its Twitter account with 2.2 million followers has received the label whereas much larger accounts associated with the BBC's news and sports output did not. 

According to the BBC charter, the company "must be independent" when it comes to "editorial and creative decisions, the times and manner in which its output and services are supplied, and in the management of its affairs." The corporation receives over GBP 90 million per year from the government to support the BBC World Service, which predominantly serves non-UK audiences, PTI reported. Apart from BBC, US public broadcaster NPR's handle has also received a label. 

Replying to a tweet claiming that CBC News receives $1.2 billion every year from the Canadian government, Musk wrote, "We need to add more granularity to editorial influence, as it varies greatly. I don’t actually think the BBC is as biased as some other government-funded media, but it is silly of the BBC to claim zero influence. Minor government influence in their case would be accurate."

(With inputs from agencies)