Twitter is going to start labeling state-run news organizations as such, it announced on Thursday. It will also explicitly label the accounts of those outlets’ editors-in-chief and their senior staffers, as well as “key government officials, including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders.”

When it comes to conversations with government and state-affiliated media accounts on Twitter, we’re helping to make the experience more transparent.

We'll now use two distinct profile labels for these types of accounts, so you can easily identify them and their Tweets. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/JW67o422MO

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) August 6, 2020

“State-affiliated media is defined 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,” Twitter’s blog post about the change says. “Unlike independent media, state-affiliated media frequently use their news coverage as a means to advance a political agenda. We believe that people have the right to know when a media account is affiliated directly or indirectly with a state actor.”

That means that Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua News will get the label, while the United Kingdom’s BBC and NPR in the United States will not because they’re publicly funded institutions with editorial independence.

On labeling government officials, Twitter will start with permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France, and Russia. However, it won’t label personal accounts for politicians and high-ranking officials. So @realDonaldTrump, the account the United States president actually tweets from, won’t get the label, but @POTUS will. That’s because “these accounts enjoy widespread name recognition, media attention, and public awareness.”

Last year, Twitter banned state-run news advertising and political advertising on the platform.

Twitter applies labels to state-controlled media like Russia Today (RT) and China’s Xinhua. https://t.co/Y9Mb6cFsNU

— Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman) August 6, 2020

On the face of it, Twitter’s not messing about. Any more. https://t.co/GHoHrx7dMV

— Ciara O'Brien (@ciaraobrien) August 6, 2020

This will be interesting to watch how they label the different media outlets in Canada, given the large Federal media fund and the ongoing support for the national broadcaster.
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Twitter to label state-controlled news accounts https://t.co/i3E7u697Xg

— Don R. Campbell (@DonRCampbell) August 6, 2020

Twitter says it will no longer "amplify" tweets by state-controlled media organisations, by excluding them from its recommendation systems 👍https://t.co/jfjsRH4N9R

— Filip Struhárik (@filip_struharik) August 6, 2020