與假新聞作戰(zhàn)，F(xiàn)acebook責(zé)無旁貸

Friday night, the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg went on his vast social network to convince an expanding chorus of critics — including the departing president of the United States — that he honest-to-goodness wants to combat the “fake news” that is running wild across his site and others, and turning our politics into a paranoiac fantasy come to life.

面對不斷增多、聲音漸趨一致的批評者——包括即將離任的美國總統(tǒng)，F(xiàn)acebook聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人馬克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)上周五晚上在自己的這個龐大的社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)上試圖讓大家相信，他真的想對抗他的網(wǎng)站和其他地方遍布的“假新聞”。后者正把我們的政治變成一個付諸實現(xiàn)的偏執(zhí)狂幻想。

“We’ve been working on this problem for a long time and we take this responsibility seriously,” he wrote.

“我們很早就已經(jīng)在著手解決這個問題，我們把這項責(zé)任看得很重，”他寫道。

“We’ve made significant progress, but there is more work to be done,” he continued, listing various steps Facebook was taking, like making it easier to report bad information and enlisting fact-checking organizations.

“我們已經(jīng)取得了重大的進展，但還有更多工作需要做，”他接著寫道，還列出了Facebook正在采取的各種措施，比如簡化不良信息的舉報，招募事實核查機構(gòu)。

It was heartening to hear, especially after his earlier assertion that it was “crazy” to believe that misinformation on Facebook had affected the presidential election in any real way — despite copious evidence that it was disturbingly in the mix, whether it directly swung the result or not.

這聽起來很讓人振奮，尤其是考慮到他之前曾堅稱，認為Facebook上的錯誤信息對總統(tǒng)選舉產(chǎn)生了任何實質(zhì)的影響，是“瘋狂”的想法——盡管有大量證據(jù)證明，不管有沒有直接影響大選結(jié)果，它都是令人不安的影響因素之一。

But as Zuckerberg went on to say that Facebook had to be careful not to mistakenly block “accurate content,” he added this: “We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves,” which was why he said Facebook would continue to rely on “our community and trusted third parties.”

不過，扎克伯格接著表示，F(xiàn)acebook必須小心避免錯誤地屏蔽“準確的內(nèi)容”，并表示：“我們不想自己做事實的裁決者”，這也是為什么他說Facebook會繼續(xù)依靠“自己的社區(qū)和可靠的第三方”。

His statement pointed up how much Facebook struggles to find the balance between its mission to be a free-expression utopia for its 1.8 billion users and its responsibility to protect them from all that is defamatory, dangerous (like terrorist propaganda) and untrue.

他的聲明顯示出Facebook在多么艱難地平衡自己的使命和責(zé)任。前者是做18億用戶的言論自由烏托邦，后者則是保護他們免受所有誹謗、危險(比如恐怖主義者的宣傳)和不實信息的侵害。

But more to the point, it appeared to buy into the notion that truth is relative at a time when that notion has to finally go away. Do you really need an outside arbiter to determine whether a video suggesting — without basis — that Hillary Clinton was involved in John F. Kennedy Jr.'s fatal plane crash in 1999 should be allowed to stand? Really?

但更關(guān)鍵的是，F(xiàn)acebook似乎相信不存在絕對的真相，這個想法在此時此刻是需要摒棄的。如果一段視頻無憑無據(jù)地提出，希拉里·克林頓(Hillary Clinton)與1999年導(dǎo)致小約翰·F·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy Jr.)身亡的飛機墜毀事故有關(guān)，這樣的東西真的需要一個外部仲裁者來決定是否該保留嗎?真的嗎?

Truth doesn’t need arbiters. It needs defenders. And it needs them now more than ever as the U.S. democracy staggers into its next uncertain phase.

真相不需要仲裁者。它需要捍衛(wèi)者。在美國民主蹣跚步入下一個不確定的階段時，它比以前任何時候都更需要捍衛(wèi)者。

With a mainstream news media that works hard to separate fact from fiction under economic and political threat, Facebook — which has contributed to that economic threat by gobbling up so much of the online advertising market — is going to have a special responsibility to do its part.

主流媒體在經(jīng)濟與政治威脅之下正竭力將事實與虛構(gòu)區(qū)分開，而這種經(jīng)濟威脅，多少與占據(jù)了網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告市場相當(dāng)份額的Facebook有關(guān)，因此它需要擔(dān)負起一個特殊的責(zé)任。

Just imagine what things will look like if the unsavory elements that tore through the 2016 election — false narratives, fake news and aggressive efforts to delegitimize traditional journalism — come back into play as Donald Trump presses to enact his agenda.

想想看，如果撕裂2016年總統(tǒng)選舉的那些令人討厭的元素——虛假陳述、假新聞，以及旨在令傳統(tǒng)新聞喪失權(quán)威的激進行動——在特朗普奮力推進其議程之際卷土重來，事情會變成什么樣子?

If the past week provided any indication of where politics are going, the next four years are going to require an all-hands-on-deck effort to keep the national conversation honest.

如果說過去這一周透露出了有關(guān)政治走向的任何信息，那就是在未來四年里，各方都必須齊心協(xié)力，才能保證坦誠的全國性討論。

The national security adviser Trump named last week, Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general, has subscribed to the conspiracy theory that Shariah law is taking root in the U.S. (it isn’t), contributing to his insistence that Americans have every reason to view Islam as “a threat.”

上周被特朗普提名為國家安全顧問的退役陸軍中將邁克爾·T·弗林(Michael T. Flynn)，頗為認同伊斯蘭教法正在美國扎根(其實并沒有)的陰謀論，這會讓他更加堅信美國完全有理由把伊斯蘭教視為“一個威脅”。

He recently used Twitter to circulate a fake news item that the FBI was sitting on evidence from Anthony Weiner’s laptop that would “put Hillary and her crew away for life.”

他最近利用Twitter傳播了一條假新聞：聯(lián)邦調(diào)查局(FBI)捂住了源自安東尼·韋納(Anthony Weiner)的電腦，會“讓希拉里及其團隊坐一輩子牢”的證據(jù)。

Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has falsely claimed that hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants are successfully crossing the border annually.

被特朗普提名為司法部長的阿拉巴馬州共和黨參議員杰夫·塞申斯(Jeff Sessions)錯誤地宣稱，每年有數(shù)十萬非法移民成功越過邊境。

Then there was the announcement by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that Trump had called to thank himand his radio and internet audience for their support in the campaign.

接著，陰謀論者阿里·瓊斯(Alex Jones)宣布，特朗普已經(jīng)給他打過電話，感謝他以及他的電臺和網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣播節(jié)目聽眾在其競選過程中提供的支持。

Add to that the fact that Trump was the most prominent promoter of the false notion that President Barack Obama wasn’t born here, and didn’t hesitate to repeat the outrageous suggestion that the father of Sen. Ted Cruz was linked to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

此外還有一個事實，特朗普本人是貝拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)總統(tǒng)并非出生于美國這一錯誤觀點的最高級別推手，他還毫不猶豫地援引過參議員特德·克魯茲(Ted Cruz)的父親與約翰·F·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)總統(tǒng)遇刺案有牽連的過分說法。

Then consider what it may look like when Trump pursues policies regarding Muslim immigrants and undocumented immigrants.

再想想看，當(dāng)特朗普推行關(guān)于穆斯林移民和非法移民的政策時，事情會變成什么樣子。

It’s not so outlandish to envision Trump’s attempts to sell his plans getting a lift from the likes of Jones or a fake site out of Macedonia — perhaps claiming that Democrats are working with ISIS to use undocumented immigrants to poison local water supplies or some such.

有些設(shè)想不會太離譜：特朗普有可能在竭力推銷自己的計劃時，得到瓊斯之流或者馬其頓的一個冒牌網(wǎng)站的幫助——沒準兒會宣稱民主黨正跟伊斯蘭國(ISIS)合作，利用非法移民去做給當(dāng)?shù)厮聪露局惖氖虑椤?/p>

That’s why people who care about the truth — citizens, journalists and, let’s hope, social media giants like Facebook, too — will have to come up with a solution to this informational nihilism, fast.

因此，在意事實的人們——公民、記者，希望還有Facebook這樣的社交媒體巨擘——將不得不迅速找出應(yīng)對這種信息虛無主義的辦法。

It’s easier said than done. The combination of attacks seeking to delegitimize serious news organizations and a drop in overall trust in the news media has made many people wary of legitimate fact-checking. And, as my colleague John Herrman noted last weekend, politicized voices can easily drown honest journalism all too easily on social media.

說起來容易做起來難。由于嚴肅新聞機構(gòu)遭到了旨在令其喪失權(quán)威性的種種攻擊，再加上世人對媒體的總體信任度有所下降，許多人都對正當(dāng)?shù)氖聦嵑瞬槌錆M警惕。此外，正如我的同事約翰·赫爾曼(John Herrman)上周所指出的，在社交媒體上，政治化的聲音可以輕而易舉地淹沒真實的新聞。

There is growing talk of an ambitious journalistic collaboration to beat back the tide. Industry thinkers and leaders are coming together online to brainstorm solutions, as Jeff Jarvis, the City University of New York journalism professor, and Eli Pariser, the Upworthy co-founder, have done. (Check them out online.) And I’d say it’s high time that television news — with its still-huge audiences — gets into the act with more than just token gestures at fact-checking.

目前，關(guān)于進行雄心勃勃的新聞合作，以便擊退這股潮流的討論日益增多。行業(yè)內(nèi)的思想家和領(lǐng)袖們正在網(wǎng)上集結(jié)，群策群力地謀劃解決之道，紐約市立大學(xué)(City University of New York )新聞學(xué)教授杰夫·賈維斯(Jeff Jarvis)和Upworthy網(wǎng)站聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人埃利·帕里澤(Eli Pariser)便是如此。(請在網(wǎng)上關(guān)注他們。)而我要說，仍然有著龐大受眾的電視新聞是時候真正加入進來，而不只是在事實核查方面象征性地做做樣子了。

But this much seems clear: The moment calls for some sort of hyperfactual counterinsurgency that treats every false meme as a baby Hitler to be killed in its crib with irrefutable facts.

但有一點很清楚：此刻需要進行某種超現(xiàn)實的以暴制暴，要把每一個虛假米姆當(dāng)成嬰兒時期的希特勒來對待，以無可辯駁的事實將其扼殺在搖籃中。

So hey, Zuck, let’s roll.

因此：嗨，扎克，讓我們一起行動起來吧。