VOA常速英语2020--社交网络促使阴谋论传播（在线收听）

In recent weeks,dozens of 5G mobile telecoms masts have been set on fire across Britain.Police say many of the attacks have been motivated by a false belief that 5G technology is linked to the corona virus pandemic.Research by Kings College London and polling company IT Source Mori shows a strong correlation between belief in such conspiracy theories and a reliance on social media for news, including Facebook, YouTube,Twitter and Whatsapp, rather than broadcast or print media.Among people who believe the coronavirus does not exist at all, some 56 percent cited Facebook as their primary source of news. And we found that people who had gone outside or gone to work, despite having what they knew were possible coronavirus symptoms, were much more likely to be getting their information from social media."That presents a health risk that must be addressed", says British lawmaker Damian Collins, who also has concerns over the role social media might play in any vaccination program.

最近几周，数十个5G移动电信天线杆在英国各地被烧毁。警方表示，许多人相信5G技术与冠状病毒疫情有关这样的不实信息，以此发动了大量的袭击。根据伦敦国王学院与民调公司IT SourceMori的研究，显示，人们会相信这种阴谋论与其依赖社交媒体获取新闻存在强烈的关联性，人们会浏览Facebook、YouTube、Twitter以及Whatsapp等社交媒体，而不是广播或印刷媒体以获取新闻。在那些认为病毒根本不存在的人中，约56%的人将Facebook视为他们的主要新闻来源。我们还发现，那些尽管知道可能出现冠状病毒症状，却依旧外出工作的人，更有可能从社交媒体上获取信息。这引起了一种必须解决的健康风险，英国立法者达米安·柯林斯表示，他还担心社交媒体会对疫苗接种计划可能发挥的作用。

"And for the vaccine to be effective,we need, you know, the vast majority of people to to agree to take it. It's important that people have got confidence in that and if people are spreading conspiracy theories and lies about the vaccine and trying to persuade people not to take it,then there's a serious public health risks to that."Facebook, YouTube and Twitter say they have removed hundreds of thousands of videos and posts relating to COVID-19 misinformation that could lead to imminent harm.But the social media giants are facing a backlash on multiple fronts. More than 150 companies, including Starbucks and Coca Cola, have stopped buying advertising on Facebook over concerns around misinformation and hate speech.At the same time, US President Donald Trump is seeking to strip social media companies of legal immunity for the content posted by users after Twitter tagged one of his tweets with a fact-check notice."I think this if Twitter were not honorable, if you're gonna have a guy like this for your judge and jury.I think you shut it down as far as I'm concerned.But I'd have to go through a legal process. Social media companies say they have robust systems in place to deal with misinformation，but they remain opaque, says Allington,"Those systems have got to be opened up for auditing by democratically accountable bodies."The evidence that social media may be amplifying falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic will likely increase the pressure on such companies to clamp down harder on misinformation.Henry Ridgwell for VOA news London

“为了使疫苗有效，我们需要绝大多数人都同意接种疫苗。人们对疫苗有信心是很重要的，如果人们散布关于疫苗的阴谋论和谎言，并试图说服人们不要注射疫苗，这样会带来严重的公共卫生风险。”Facebook，YouTube和Twitter表示，他们已经删除了成千上万条涉及新冠肺炎的不实信息的视频和帖子，这样的信息可能导致迫在眉睫的伤害。但社交媒体巨头正面临多方面的抵制。 星巴克和可口可乐等150多家公司，出于对不实信息和仇恨言论的担忧，已经停止在Facebook上购买广告。同时，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普正在寻求剥夺社交媒体公司对用户发布的内容的法律豁免权，此前，Twitter在他的一条推特上贴上了事实核查通知。我认为如果Twitter不值得尊敬,如果你想让这样的人来做你的法官和陪审团，就我而言，我认为你关闭了Twitter。但我得经过法律程序。社交媒体公司表示,他们有健全的系统来处理不实信息，但它们仍然不透明，艾灵顿表示，“这些系统必须开放，由民主负责的机构进行审计。”有关社交媒体可能会放大关于冠状病毒疫情的不实之词的证据，可能会增加这类公司的压力，迫使它们加大力度打击虚假信息。美国之音新闻，亨利·里奇威尔，伦敦报道