Facebook須肩負分辨真僞信息之責
In the 12 years since Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook, the global media landscape has changed beyond recognition. This is in no small part due to the social media platform that he started as an undergraduate, which is now one of the biggest global distributors of news.
在馬克.扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)推出Facebook以來的12年裏，全球媒體版圖發生了天翻地覆的變化。這在很大程度上可歸因於他在讀本科期間創立的這個社交媒體平臺，如今這個平臺已是全球最大的新聞分銷商之一。
Where printed newspapers were traditionally constrained by the cost of physical distribution, Facebook and other social media are, by contrast, equipped with the power to transmit information across borders at limited or no cost. This has brought undoubted benefits to millions of users who can access information more readily than before. It has also brought with it responsibilities.
印刷版報紙傳統上受到物理分發成本的約束，相比之下，Facebook和其他社交媒體具有以有限成本、甚至無成本方式跨境傳播信息的威力。這給數以百萬計的用戶帶來了不容置疑的好處，他們能夠空前便利地獲取信息。這也帶來了責任。
Such obligations will become increasingly difficult for Facebook to brush aside in light of the controversy generated by its role in the spread of misinformation.
鑑於Facebook在虛假信息傳播方面扮演的角色所引發的爭議，該公司要回避這種義務將變得越來越困難。
Fake news propagated by partisan websites proliferated across social media in an unprecedented fashion ahead of Donald Trump’s victory in US elections. The degree to which this influenced voters is hard to gauge. But given that more than half of Americans source news from social media, 150m of them on Facebook, it is an obvious source of concern.
在唐納德.特朗普(Donald Trump)贏得美國大選之前，黨派性網站發送的假消息以前所未有的方式在社交媒體上傳播。很難衡量這些假消息影響選民的程度。但鑑於一半以上美國人從社交媒體獲取新聞（其中1.5億從Facebook獲取新聞），這明顯是一個令人擔心的問題。
Nor is Facebook alone in feeling the heat. The spotlight shifted to Google on Monday after it gave prominence in its search rankings to a false report claiming that Mr Trump had won the popular vote.
也並不只是Facebook感受到壓力。聚光燈在週一轉向谷歌(Google)，因爲它在搜索排名中突出了一則虛假報道，稱特朗普已經贏得民衆選票。
Mr Zuckerberg argues that Facebook is a technology company not a media company. Unlike traditional news media, where editors curate content and check accuracy and balance, Facebook deploys engineers to write algorithms that select news according to the historic preferences of users. Mr Zuckerberg is reluctant for his company to assume a role as arbiter of the truth.
扎克伯格辯稱，Facebook是一家技術公司，而不是一家媒體公司。不像傳統的新聞媒體有編輯來策劃內容、檢查準確性和保持平衡，Facebook讓工程師編寫算法，根據用戶的歷史偏好來選擇新聞。扎克伯格不願讓他的公司擔當真相的仲裁者。
One advantage of the network business models adopted at the outset by the likes of Google, Facebook, Twitter, Uber and Airbnb was that they were all capital light. Ethical and financial responsibility for how the networks were precisely used was less than clear. This made some sense: if you are threatened over the phone, you do not blame the phone company.
谷歌、Facebook、Twitter、優步(Uber)和Airbnb從一開始就採用的網絡商業模式有一大優勢，那就是它們都是“輕資本”的。圍繞這些網絡究竟如何被使用的道德和財務責任不那麼清楚。這有一定道理：如果有人打電話威脅你，你不能責怪電話公司。
The burden of responsibility is growing for all of these businesses as they expand. Even Facebook employees have found the company’s defence less than convincing. Some of them have formed an unofficial task force to investigate the role of their platform in spreading fake news.
隨着這些企業發展壯大，它們的責任負擔也隨之加大。就連Facebook員工也發現該公司的辯護缺乏說服力。其中一些人成立了一個非官方工作組，調查他們的平臺在傳播假消息方面起到的作用。
Facebook is not only a 21st-century newsagent. It plays a far more sophisticated role in disseminating information and encouraging the sharing of news among people of similar beliefs and opinions.
Facebook不只是一個21世紀的報刊亭。它在傳播信息、鼓勵信念和觀點相似的人們在彼此之間分享新聞方面，發揮着複雜得多的作用。
There is tacit acknowledgment of the inherent dangers in leaving everything to algorithms. Both Facebook and Google have moved this week to restrict advertising on online platforms carrying fake news. If the two companies are able to discern which websites are spreading misinformation they should also be in a better position to filter out blatant falsehood.
對於把一切都扔給算法這種做法的固有危險，已經得到了默認。Facebook和谷歌兩家本週已採取行動，限制在散佈假消息的在線平臺上投放廣告。如果這兩家公司能夠分辨哪些網站在傳播錯誤信息，那麼它們也應該在屏蔽掉那些公然謊言方面處於比較有利的地位。
This is not a one-off election drama. Finding facts is becoming more important as some politicians do whatever it takes to attract support.
這不是一次性的選舉戲劇。隨着某些政界人士不擇手段地吸引支持，發現事實正變得更加重要。
The challenges of adapting technology to play a policing role are great, and companies such as Facebook and Google are understandably wary of drawing accusations of bias by intervening in the nature of content. They must nevertheless shoulder some responsibility for distinguishing fact from fiction.
調整技術、使其起到監督作用，這裏的挑戰是艱鉅的，而Facebook和谷歌這樣的公司擔心干預內容的性質會被指責存在傾向性是可以理解的。然而，它們必須肩負起區分真僞信息的一部分責任。
