美国国家公共电台 NPR Social Media Companies Struggle To Pull Live Streamed Video Of Mass Shootings

 

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The alleged¹ gunman streamed his attack live on Facebook. Then the video went viral. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are still scrambling² to take it down. NPR's Jasmine Garsd has been digging into that aspect of the story.

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE³: The alleged shooter seems to have first advertised the attack on the online forum⁴ 8chan, a message board known for right-wing extremist users. He included a link to a Facebook account. That Facebook account is where a 17-minute long video was livestreamed in real-time. The video starts behind the wheel of a car. It appears to come from a body-mounted camera. He pulls up to Al Noor Mosque⁵. That was one of the two mosques⁶ that were attacked.

And what comes next is sheer horror. He starts shooting worshippers - at one point, going back to his car for another gun. Then he proceeds to shoot people at short range. Facebook took down the video after it happened, but it was too late. It had already gone viral on YouTube and Twitter. The social media platforms had lost control. And this raises a lot of questions about live broadcasting.

ALEX LONDON: When your point is to strike fear into the hearts of people, livestreaming allows you to broadcast your message much farther.

GARSD: Professor Alex London teaches ethics⁷ and philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. He says horrific events like the one in New Zealand go viral using livestreaming technology. But that technology also allows people to call out things like police brutality⁸. He says it used to be that...

LONDON: When people would say, you know, the government is perpetrating acts of violence or the police were abusive, you'd have to believe their testimony⁹.

GARSD: Perhaps that's why when Philando Castile was shot by a Minnesota police officer, his girlfriend's first instinct was to start broadcasting live. That went viral, causing national outrage¹⁰.

LONDON: It gives people a much better sense of, you know, of the event and the event in real time.

GARSD: But as much as livestreaming can document brutality, it can also make atrocities¹¹ go viral and impossible to control, like in the New Zealand shooting. In the last year, Facebook has come under intense scrutiny¹² over allowing hate groups on its platform. Recently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that he was adding more moderators to crack down on disturbing content. Katie Moussouris is a cybersecurity expert, and she says perhaps we should consider the possibility that not everyone should be able to livestream.

KATIE MOUSSOURIS: It's not a bad idea to potentially have only specific verified accounts allowed to post. And if something that they post that is livestreamed does contain violence or hate speech, that that privilege goes away.

GARSD: But she understands that's going to cause a lot of controversy¹³ about who is allowed freedom of speech.

AL TOMPKINS: Look, here's the thing about free speech and free expression. It's a messy proposition. And there's always going to be abuse.

GARSD: Al Tompkins is a senior faculty¹⁴ at the Poynter Institute. He teaches ethics.

TOMPKINS: It's true offline. It's true online. And if you intend to give people the ability to communicate freely with each other, it's going to be messy. And some people are going to abuse it, but most people won't.

GARSD: Twitter and YouTube have both condemned¹⁵ the attacks and said they are working to bring down any video of the shooting. Facebook said in a statement it moved quickly to take down the shooter's Facebook and Instagram accounts and the video. It also said it is, quote, "removing any praise or support for the crime and the shooter or shooters." Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New York.

1 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

2 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

5 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

6 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

7 ethics   

n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准

参考例句：

• The ethics of his profession don't permit him to do that.他的职业道德不允许他那样做。
• Personal ethics and professional ethics sometimes conflict.个人道德和职业道德有时会相互抵触。

8 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

9 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

10 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

11 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

12 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。

13 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

14 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

15 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。