Twitter CEO Elon Musk has reportedly threatened to transfer NPR’s handle on the platform to another company if the broadcaster doesn’t resume tweeting.
NPR pulled the plug on posting on its main @NPR account and 51 other feeds in April after the Musk-owned platform falsely labeled it as “state-affiliated media,” a description usually applied to state-owned media in authoritarian countries.
The label has since been removed, but @NPR has not tweeted to its 8.8 million followers since April 12.
In a series of emails sent to NPR business reporter Bobby Allyn, Musk reportedly asked: “So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?”
“Our policy is to recycle handles that are definitively dormant,” Musk reportedly added to Allyn in another message. “Same policy applies to all accounts. No special treatment for NPR.”
Twitter’s “inactive account policy” says an account is not considered dormant until it hasn’t been logged into for at least 30 days.
“Inactivity is based on logging in,” it states. So, not on posting.
It’s unclear if Musk plans to change the policy. He has pushed through a raft of controversial reforms following his acquisition of the platform, such as the removal of blue check marks for verification.
Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey last week suggested Musk “should have walked away” from the $44 billion purchase while he could.
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