NPR.

You know, as journalists, we like telling stories, but we often say we do not want to be the

story.

And with that said, this next story is a little bit about us.

Just a little bit.

So about a month ago, Twitter and its CEO Elon Musk added the label state affiliate

and media to NPR's Twitter profile.

And a few days later, it added the label government funded to other public broadcasters in Canada,

the UK, South Korea, and others.

In response, these outlets, including NPR, pushed back.

They argued these labels are misleading and falsely imply that they're controlled by

their governments.

Now, this Twitter spat isn't necessarily surprising.

I mean, Elon Musk is known for thumbing his nose at journalists and media outlets.

What is surprising, though, is that before all this went down, actual state-affiliated

news outlets controlled by the Russian, Iranian, and Chinese governments, they were seeing

a surge of activity on Twitter.

This is the indicator for planet money.

I'm Adrian Ma.

And I'm Whalen Wong.

Today on the show, we talk with NPR Tech reporter Derek Kerr about how she discovered this

surge was no accident and why it matters for democracy and human rights around the world.

...