Elon Musk is facing a row with the BBC after the broadcaster was labelled as a government-funded media organisation on Twitter.

The BBC is challenging the tag on the basis that its income comes from the licence fee, and is not a tax.

It is one of several news outlets to receive the label from the social media network over the last week.

A BBC spokesman said: “We are speaking to Twitter to resolve this issue as soon as possible. The BBC is, and always has been, independent. We are funded by the British public through the licence fee.”

The Government is responsible for setting the level of the licence fee paid by households. It generated £3.8bn in 2021-22.

The Telegraph has contacted Twitter for comment.

It comes after a row erupted between Mr Musk, who bought Twitter for $44bn (£35bn), and the American NPR network, which has been tagged as state-affiliated media - effectively suggesting the US government could influence its editorial policy. It shares the tag with outlets such as the Kremlin-funded Russia Today.

Twitter says it defined state-affiliated media outlets 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”.

According to NPR, roughly 1pc of its annual operating budget comes from government grants. 

Twitter has since changed the description of NPR to “government funded media”, after NPR said it would not tweet from the account while it carried that description.