美国国家公共电台 NPR 脸谱网和推特删除俄罗斯支持的账户 称其干预美国大选

With just weeks left until the election, more evidence is coming out about how Russia is againinterfering. Facebook has confirmed that it has removed accounts linked to Russian stateactors who were trying to spread false stories. Those stories were aimed at influencing theoutcome of the November vote. NPR's tech reporter Bobby Allyn is covering this and joins usnow. Good morning, Bobby.

BOBBY ALLYN, BYLINE¹: Hey, Rachel.

MARTIN: So tell us more. What exactly did Facebook uncover?

ALLYN: So this all started with a tip from the FBI. Federal authorities reached out to Facebookand said, hey, we found this site, peacedata.net, and it says it's an international news site, butif you look very closely, it sure does look like a Russian propaganda tool. So Facebook lookedinto it and, indeed, discovered that it was linked to Russian operatives, and it was sharinghundreds of bogus news articles about everything from racial injustice² to the Democraticcampaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

I talked to Ben Nimmo of research firm Graphika. They collaborated³ with Facebook on lookinginto this website. And Nimmo told me that the Russian operatives who were running it wereposting articles on Facebook to groups liked by progressives.

BEN NIMMO: It was very much a strongly left-leaning constituency that they were aiming at. But in among there, there were indeed pieces which were saying, well, Biden and Harris, they'remuch too far to the right.

MARTIN: So they were trying to make progressives less likely to be supportive of the Biden-Harris ticket. How does that compare, Bobby, to what happened four years ago?

ALLYN: Researchers say, you know, this operation both echoes the 2016 playbook andintroduces some new elements. So four years ago, Russian troll farms pushed false stories tosuppress the progressive and minority vote to try to hurt Hillary Clinton. We're seeing thattactic again. It's a similar goal. What's new here is they duped Americans into helping⁴ themseem more credible⁵. They posted writing gigs on hiring boards in the U.S. telling, you know, young and inexperienced journalists that, hey, if you want to make some extra money, youcould come write for peacedata.net.

Here's Nathaniel Gleicher. He heads cybersecurity policy at Facebook.

NATHANIEL GLEICHER: And they used that to reach out to unwitting freelancers⁶ toessentially trick them into writing for this fake organization and writing on topics that theRussian actors wanted them to write on.

ALLYN: The thing is, Rachel, it didn't quite work. Facebook and Twitter both caught this veryearly on, and these pages never really gathered the reach that the Russian operatives hadhoped. So the tech companies are saying, look — this is a success story.

MARTIN: Can they really bask⁷ in the success of this, though? I mean, there's all kinds of otherdisinformation on Facebook.

ALLYN: Yeah, that's right. I mean, it was identified and whacked⁸ before it reached millions ofpeople. That is a good thing, right? But we know that Facebook has trouble controlling itsplatform, frankly⁹. Whether it's violent militia¹⁰ groups that go there to organize or QAnonconspiracy theories, there's loads of troubling and, frankly, sometimes dangerous content onthe platform. And sometimes that stuff, it slips through the cracks.

MARTIN: So they have been paying attention to this, though. They've talked a lot abouttheir efforts to better moderate the content on their platform. Is any of that working?

ALLYN: You know, it's a constant game of cat and mouse. In 2016, the Russian meddling¹¹ wasso impactful because the Russian troll farms were able to build audiences over time, over many, many, many months. Facebook's Gleicher says Russians have some new tricks up their sleeve, but so too does Facebook.

GLEICHER: Russian actors trying harder and harder to hide who they are and being more andmore deceptive¹² to conceal¹³ their operations.

ALLYN: Yeah, so Facebook only started this investigation¹⁴ after the FBI told them about it. Andbefore then, these pages were sharing on Facebook for three months, which in Facebook time isa very, very long time.

MARTIN: All right. NPR's Bobby Allyn. Thank you so much for your reporting on this. Weappreciate it.

ALLYN: Thanks, Rachel.

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 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

3 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

6 freelancers   

n.自由作家，自由记者( freelancer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A lot of proof-reading is put out to freelancers. 校对工作有很多是请外人做的。 来自辞典例句
• Its benefits plan for freelancers is highly competitive in the industry. 在本行业内它的福利方案是很有竞争力的。 来自互联网

7 bask   

vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于

参考例句：

• Turtles like to bask in the sun.海龟喜欢曝于阳光中。
• In winter afternoons,he likes to bask in the sun in his courtyard.冬日的午后，他喜欢坐在院子晒太阳。

8 whacked   

a.精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• She whacked him with her handbag. 她用手提包狠狠地打他。
• He whacked me on the back and I held both his arms. 他用力拍拍我的背，我抱住他的双臂。

9 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

10 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

11 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

12 deceptive   

adj.骗人的，造成假象的，靠不住的

参考例句：

• His appearance was deceptive.他的外表带有欺骗性。
• The storyline is deceptively simple.故事情节看似简单，其实不然。

13 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

14 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。