HELSINKI (AP) â Swedenâs public radio said Tuesday that it would stop being active on Twitter, but it did not blame new labels that Elon Musk âs social media platform has slapped on public broadcasters, leading some major North American outlets to quit tweeting.
Sveriges Radio said on its blog that Twitter has lost its relevance to Swedish audiences. șĂÉ«tv Public Radio and șĂÉ«tv Broadcasting Corporation, meanwhile, have pointed to Twitterâs new policy of , saying it undermines their credibility.
âFor a long time, Sveriges Radio has de-prioritised its presence on Twitter and has now made the decision to completely stop being active on the platform, at the same time that we are shutting down a number of accounts,â said Christian Gillinger, head of the broadcaster's social media activities.
He cited a recent study showing only some 7% of Swedes are on Twitter daily and said the platform âhas simply changed over the years and become less important for us.â
âThe audience has simply chosen other places to be. And therefore Sveriges Radio now chooses to deactivate or delete the last remaining accounts,â Gillinger said.
The broadcaster's news service, SR Ekot, which has been labeled âpublicly funded media,â will remain on Twitter but has been marked inactive.
Sveriges Radio, which has been active on Twitter since 2009, also noted the ârecent turbulenceâ around Twitterâs operations and said it was worrying that the social media platform has
âWe believe that it may in the long run affect the companyâs capacity to handle, for example, fake accounts, bots and but also ,â Gillinger said.
The labels for public broadcasters have unleashed a , who has long expressed and said he wants to elevate the views and expertise of the âaverage citizen.â
Canadaâs CBC said Monday that it would pause its activities on Twitter after it was labeled as âgovernment-funded" because it âundermines the accuracy and professionalismâ of its journalists' work âto allow our independence to be falsely described in this way.â
U.S. broadcasters NPR and Public Broadcasting Service made similar decisions earlier this month for related reasons.