Twitter CEO Elon Musk told NPR this week that if the company wasn’t going to use its Twitter account, he might give it away,
In an unprompted email to NPR, the billionaire asked the company if it planned to continue tweeting.
“So is NPR going to start posting on Twitter again, or should we reassign @NPR to another company?” the email read, according to NPR.
When asked why the account would need to be transferred, Mr. Musk said it is company policy to recycle dormant handles and that NPR will receive “no special treatment.”
According to Twitter policy, an account is dormant if it is not logged in and has not tweeted in more than 30 days.
It is not clear how the transfer of NPR’s handle would happen, or who would get it.
The emails are the latest in what has become an incredibly toxic relationship between Mr. Musk and the mainstream press.
The battle with NPR kicked off last month after Mr. Musk applied a “state-affiliated media” tag to the outlet’s account. In response, NPR effectively quit Twitter. Other media outlets, like PBS, also quit Twitter after getting similar tags.
Even though the tag was removed following the controversy, NPR has, seemingly in an act of protest, declined to return.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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