Facebook如何應(yīng)對丑聞：時報調(diào)查6大關(guān)鍵看點

For more than a year, Facebook has endured cascading crises — over Russian misinformation, data privacy and abusive content — that transformed the Silicon Valley icon into an embattled giant accused of corporate overreach and negligence.

一年多來，F(xiàn)acebook在俄羅斯散布虛假信息、數(shù)據(jù)隱私和濫用等問題上經(jīng)歷了接連不斷的危機(jī)，把這個硅谷的偶像變成了一個處境艱難的大公司，面臨著人們對企業(yè)不自量力和疏忽的指控。

An investigation by The New York Times revealed how Facebook fought back against its critics: with delays, denials and a full-bore campaign in Washington. Here are six takeaways.

《紐約時報》的一項調(diào)查揭示了Facebook如何對其批評者進(jìn)行回?fù)簦龇òㄍ涎?、否認(rèn)，以及在華盛頓展開全力以赴的活動。下面是調(diào)查的六個主要結(jié)果。

Facebook knew about Russian interference Facebook

早就知道俄羅斯的干涉

In fall 2016, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, was publicly declaring it a “crazy idea” that his company had played a role in deciding the election. But security experts at the company already knew otherwise.

2016年秋，F(xiàn)acebook首席執(zhí)行官馬克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)曾公開宣稱，認(rèn)為他的公司對決定選舉結(jié)果有作用是一個“愚蠢的想法”。但公司的安全專家那時就已經(jīng)知道事實正相反。

They found signs as early as spring 2016 that Russian hackers were poking around the Facebook accounts of people linked to American presidential campaigns. Months later, they saw Russian-controlled accounts sharing information from hacked Democratic emails with reporters. Facebook accumulated evidence of Russian activity for over a year before executives opted to share what they knew with the public — and even their own board of directors.

他們早在2016年春天就發(fā)現(xiàn)有跡象表明，俄羅斯黑客正在搜查與美國總統(tǒng)競選活動有關(guān)的Facebook帳戶。幾個月后，他們看到，俄羅斯人控制的賬戶把黑客攻擊得到的民主黨電子郵件發(fā)給記者們。在公司高管們選擇把他們知道的東西告知公眾——甚至告訴自己的董事會之前，F(xiàn)acebook已經(jīng)積累了一年多的俄羅斯活動的證據(jù)。

The company feared Trump supporters

公司害怕特朗普的支持者

In 2015, when the presidential candidate Donald J. Trump called for a banof Muslim immigrants, Facebook employees and outside critics called on the company to punish Mr. Trump. Mr. Zuckerberg considered it — asking subordinates whether Mr. Trump had violated the company’s rules and whether his account should be suspended or the post removed.

2015年，當(dāng)總統(tǒng)候選人唐納德·J·特朗普呼吁禁止穆斯林移民時，F(xiàn)acebook員工和外界批評者曾呼吁公司懲罰特朗普。扎克伯格也考慮過這個問題，他向下屬詢問，特朗普是否違反了公司的規(guī)定，是不是應(yīng)該暫停他的帳戶，要不要刪掉他的帖子。

But while Mr. Zuckerberg was personally offended, he deferred to subordinates who warned that penalizing Mr. Trump would set off a damaging backlash among Republicans.

但是，盡管扎克伯格本人對特朗普的做法憤憤不已，但他還是聽從了下屬的意見，他們警告說，懲罰特朗普將在共和黨人中引發(fā)強(qiáng)烈反對，這會給公司帶來很大的危害。

Mr. Trump’s post remained up.

特朗普的帖子至今仍在那里。

Facebook launched a multipronged attack and lobbying campaign Facebook

發(fā)動了多管齊下的反擊和游說活動

As criticism grew over Facebook’s belated admissions of Russian influence, the company launched a lobbying campaign — overseen by Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer — to combat critics and shift anger toward rival tech firms.

隨著Facebook對俄羅斯影響大選的遲來承認(rèn)引發(fā)的批評之聲日益增大，公司發(fā)動了一場與批評者較量、將人們的怒火轉(zhuǎn)向競爭對手技術(shù)公司的游說活動，活動由公司的首席運(yùn)營官謝麗爾·桑德伯格(Sheryl Sandberg)主管。

Facebook hired Senator Mark Warner’s former chief of staff to lobby him; Ms. Sandberg personally called Senator Amy Klobuchar to complain about her criticism. The company also deployed a public relations firm to push negative stories about its political critics and cast blame on companies like Google.

Facebook聘用了參議員馬克·華納(Mark Warner)的前辦公室主任來游說這位參議員;桑德伯格親自給參議員艾米·克洛布徹(Amy Klobuchar)打電話，對克洛布徹的批評表示不滿。公司還安排一家公關(guān)公司，推出了關(guān)于Facebook政治批評者的負(fù)面報道，還把問題歸咎于谷歌那樣的公司。

Those efforts included depicting the billionaire liberal donor George Soros as the force behind a broad anti-Facebook movement, and publishing stories praising Facebook and criticizing Google and Apple on a conservative news site.

這些努力包括，把自由派捐款人、億萬富翁喬治·索羅斯(George Soros)描繪為一個涉及廣泛的反Facebook運(yùn)動的背后推手，發(fā)表贊揚(yáng)Facebook的故事，以及在保守派新聞網(wǎng)站上散布批評谷歌和蘋果公司的消息。

Cambridge Analytica raised the stakes 劍橋分析(Cambridge Analytica)使事態(tài)擴(kuò)大

Facebook faced worldwide outrage in March after The Times, The Observer of London and The Guardian published a joint investigation into how user data had been appropriated by Cambridge Analytica to profile American voters. But inside Facebook, executives thought they could contain the damage. The company installed a new chief of American lobbying to help quell the bipartisan anger in Congress, and it quietly shelved an internal communications campaign, called “We Get It,” meant to assure employees that the company was committed to getting back on track in 2018.

今年3月，時報、《倫敦觀察》(The Observer of London)和《衛(wèi)報》(The Guardian)發(fā)表了一篇聯(lián)合調(diào)查，對劍橋分析公司如何利用用戶數(shù)據(jù)獲取美國選民個人信息的事情進(jìn)行了報道之后，F(xiàn)acebook面臨著全世界的公憤。但在Facebook內(nèi)部，高管們認(rèn)為他們可以控制事態(tài)。公司任命了一位負(fù)責(zé)美國游說的新主管，來幫助平息國會里來自兩黨的憤怒，并悄悄擱置了一個旨在向員工保證公司將盡心盡力在2018年恢復(fù)正常的、名為“我們明白了”(We Get It)的內(nèi)部宣傳活動。

Some criticisms hurt more than others

有些批評比其他批評更傷人

Sensing Facebook’s vulnerability, some rival tech firms in Silicon Valley sought to use the outcry to promote their own brands. After Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, quipped in an interview that his company did not traffic in personal data, Mr. Zuckerberg ordered his management team to use only Android phones. After all, he reasoned, the operating system had far more users than Apple’s.

硅谷的一些競爭對手技術(shù)公司意識到Facebook的弱點后，試圖利用人們的不滿來推銷自己的品牌。蘋果公司首席執(zhí)行官蒂姆·庫克(Tim Cook)在一次采訪中挖苦，自己的公司不用個人數(shù)據(jù)做買賣，之后，扎克伯格下令他的管理團(tuán)隊只用Android手機(jī)。他給出的理由是，畢竟，Android手機(jī)操作系統(tǒng)的用戶數(shù)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過蘋果的。

Facebook still has friends Facebook

仍然有朋友

Washington’s senior Democrat, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, raised more money from Facebook employees than any other member of Congress during the 2016 election cycle — and he was there when the company needed him.

2016年大選期間，華盛頓的資深民主黨人、紐約州參議員查克·舒默(Chuck Schumer)從Facebook員工那里籌集到的資金數(shù)額超過任何其他國會議員，當(dāng)公司需要他時，他沒有推辭。

This past summer, as Facebook’s troubles mounted, Mr. Schumer confronted Mr. Warner, who by then had emerged as Facebook’s most insistent inquisitor in Congress. Back off, Mr. Schumer told Mr. Warner, and look for ways to work with Facebook, not vilify it. Lobbyists for Facebook — which also employs Mr. Schumer’s daughter — were kept abreast of Mr. Schumer’s efforts.

今年夏天，隨著Facebook困境的加劇，舒默與華納發(fā)生了沖突，華納這時已成為國會里最堅持不懈地調(diào)查Facebook的人。舒默對華納說，放棄吧，應(yīng)該去尋找與Facebook合作的方式，而不是去詆毀它。舒默的女兒也是Facebook的雇員，為Facebook游說的人對舒默的努力有隨時的了解。