Twitter has labeled National Public Radio “state-affiliated media,” equating it to news organizations controlled by the governments in Russia, China, Iran and elsewhere.

On Wednesday morning, a tag reading “US state-affiliated media” appeared on NPR’s Twitter page. The change was made overnight, NPR spokeswoman Isabel Lara told Spectrum News in an email.

Twitter’s polices define state-affiliated media 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.”

In response to a tweet from a user praising Twitter CEO Elon Musk for the designation, Musk attached a screen grab of the above policy, writing, “Seems accurate.”

However, Musk omitted a section of the policy that reads: “State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.”

NPR had appeared alongside BBC as an example of state-financed media outlets with editorial independence but was removed sometime late Tuesday, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows.

Spectrum News sent an email to Twitter’s press address seeking comment Wednesday morning and immediately received an automated response with a poop emoji.

Lara told Spectrum News on Wednesday morning that the new label “must be a mistake as it contradicts Twitter’s own guidelines. We have reached out to Twitter to have the label removed.”

But hours later, NPR President and CEO John Lansing released a statement blasting the designation.

"NPR and our Member stations are supported by millions of listeners who depend on us for the independent, fact-based journalism we provide," Lansing stated. "NPR stands for freedom of speech and holding the powerful accountable. It is unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way. A vigorous, vibrant free press is essential to the health of our democracy."

NPR says less than 1% of its annual operating budget comes from grants from federal agencies and departments and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit group that is fully funded by the federal government. There is no evidence the government plays any role in NPR’s editorial decisions.

At a briefing Wednesday afternoon, the Biden administration's chief spokesperson declined to comment about Twitter's policies, but said that "there's no doubt of the independence of NPR's journalists."

"If you've ever been on the receiving end of their of their questions you know this, you know that they have their independence in journalism," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "NPR journalists work diligently to hold public officials accountable and inform the American people. The hard-hitting independent nature of their coverage speaks speaks for itself."

The NPR incident is the second high-profile squabble between Twitter and a media outlet that Musk, who purchased the social media giant last year saying he wanted to protect free speech, has criticized.

After The New York Times said last week it would not pay Twitter for the check mark noting verification of its accounts, Twitter pulled the blue check mark from the newspaper's main account.

Check marks, however, remained on other news organizations’ accounts, including for The Associated Press, which also said it would not pay for verification.

Shortly after The Times lost its check mark, Musk tweeted that the newspaper printed “propaganda” and that its feed is “the Twitter equivalent of diarrhea.”