美国国家公共电台 NPR Mark Zuckerberg Offers A Choice: The Facebook Way Or The China Way

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is testifying on Capitol Hill right now, and he’s facing a tough audience. From disinformation and hate speech to its election content, his company is under pressure. Plus today he’ll need to give specifics on Facebook’s plan for a new digital currency. NPR tech correspondent Shannon Bond has the story. And I should note that Facebook is one of NPR’s financial supporters.

SHANNON BOND, BYLINE¹: The last time Mark Zuckerberg testified at a congressional hearing he was under fire over whether a political consulting firm used the private information of Facebook users as part of an effort to sway the 2016 election. A year and a half later, that immediate² crisis has passed. But Facebook is under even more pressure and scrutiny³ today. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren says Facebook has too much power.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ELIZABETH WARREN: I say it's time to break them up. Let's enforce the antitrust laws. I'm there.

(APPLAUSE)

WARREN: Big tech - yes, Mark Zuckerberg, I'm looking at you.

BOND: Facebook started as a place for college students to find each other. But now, it has become the world's most influential⁴ social media site and a crucial place for politicians to reach voters. Along the way, it's become vulnerable to misinformation, manipulation, propaganda. Critics say Facebook needs to take more responsibility now that it's so big.

VANITA GUPTA: There is kind of a denial of just how sweeping⁵ that role is and a real harms that the platform can have on vulnerable communities, communities of color without adequate guard rails in place.

BOND: That's Vanita Gupta, a former Justice Department official. She now heads up the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Many of her concerns will be front and center today.

Facebook has been accused of enabling discrimination through its ad tools. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has sued Facebook over this issue. The federal agency says Facebook let advertisers show or hide housing ads from users based on their race or where they live.

Nicol Turner Lee is a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation.

NICOL TURNER LEE: In the case of Facebook, what I think we're seeing is that the tool is being used in ways that I think that they did not plan for.

BOND: Facebook says it has stopped letting advertisers target ads for housing, jobs and credit to people based on their ethnicity or where they live. And just yesterday, it pledged $1 billion for affordable⁶ housing in California.

But Facebook wants to go further into people's lives. And Zuckerberg will have to defend his plans for a new global, digital currency - Libra. Regulators worry it could be used for illegal activity like money laundering⁷ or to fund terrorism. The currency is still in the theoretical stages, but it's already in jeopardy⁸. Just in the past couple of weeks, some crucial partners, including Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, have dropped out entirely⁹.

MICHAEL PACHTER: Libra sounds dead on arrival.

BOND: Michael Pachter is an analyst¹⁰ with Wedbush Securities.

PACHTER: I don't think Facebook can pull it off without the support of all of the different banking¹¹ and credit - you know, card processors and payment processors. I just don't think that they have the wherewithal to actually do it themselves.

BOND: Beyond the headline topics, members of the House Financial Services Committee will get to ask Zuckerberg about everything else on their minds too; what is the company doing to stop election interference? Is it biased¹² against conservatives as some politicians claim? Why does it let politicians lie in ads? There may even be questions about whether Facebook should be broken up, as Elizabeth Warren is calling for, a scenario¹³ Zuckerberg roundly rejects. With Facebook on the defensive¹⁴ and lawmakers eager to pile on, there could be fireworks.

Shannon Bond, NPR News, San Francisco.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

3 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

4 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

5 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

6 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

7 laundering   

n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入）

参考例句：

• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering. 洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He was charged with laundering money. 他被指控洗钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

9 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

10 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

11 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

12 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

13 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

14 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。