Elon Musk's reaction to NPR's declining traffic: 'They dig their own grave'

AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool, File

As per the findings of Similarweb, npr.org has suffered a decline of more than seven million page visits, dropping from 111.5 million in March to 104.2 million in May.

Throughout that period, the website witnessed a decline in its ranking in the United States, falling by four positions and ending up as the 143rd most popular site.

According to Similarweb's data, a significant portion of npr.org's traffic, specifically 45 percent, originates from direct access, while 42 percent is attributed to users actively searching for NPR Social media platforms, on the other hand, contribute only 6.5 percent of the total traffic.

Interestingly, even though NPR is no longer present on Twitter, 15 percent of the traffic generated from social media still came from that platform.

In response to the statistics, Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who was responsible for the classification of NPR as state-affiliated media, expressed his reaction by stating, "They dig their own grave."

They dig their own grave

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 12, 2023

NPR is stepping away from Twitter, and this includes this NPR Politics feed. Please read the thread to find other ways to find our work, including:

NPR Politics Instagram: https://t.co/UJ2HzXYsR0
NPR Politics newsletter: https://t.co/mrWXwUrXrn https://t.co/5kmu5kGogV

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) April 12, 2023

In April, NPR CEO John Lansing defended his choice to cease posting on Twitter, arguing that it would be a "disservice" to his employees to share their reporting "on a platform that is associating the federal charter for public media with an abandoning of editorial independence or standards."

"I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility," Lansing added, noting that he "would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again."

As stated on NPR's official website, it is described as a "private, non-profit company with editorial independence" that "receives less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting."