Facebook將在德國啟動新聞打假

Germany is to become the first country outside the US to benefit from Facebook’s crackdown on fake news as the social media group tries to control the proliferation of media hoaxes ahead of elections in the country this year.

德國將成為美國以外首個受益于Facebook打擊假新聞努力的國家。這家社交媒體集團正試圖在今年該國舉行選舉之前遏制媒體騙局的擴散。

The world’s largest social network is bringing its test of fake-news filtering tools to Germany in the coming weeks after the spread of false stories such as one claiming Germany’s oldest church was set on fire by a mob of 1,000 people.

世界最大社交網(wǎng)絡將在未來幾周內(nèi)將其假新聞過濾工具引進德國。此前德國曾經(jīng)流傳一些聳人聽聞的虛假報道，比如聲稱該國最古老的教堂被1000名暴徒焚燒。

German users of the social network will now be able to report a story as fake and it will be sent to Correctiv, a third-party fact checker. If the fact checker discovers it is fake, the story will be flagged as “disputed”, with an explanation. Disputed stories will not be prioritised by the news feed algorithm and people will receive a warning if they decide to share it.

該社交網(wǎng)絡的德國用戶現(xiàn)在將能夠舉報一個故事為假新聞，相關故事將被轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)至第三方事實核查機構(gòu)Correctiv。如果事實核查機構(gòu)發(fā)現(xiàn)它確實是假新聞，相關故事將被標記為“有爭議”，并附帶一個解釋。有爭議的故事不會得到新聞推送算法的優(yōu)先處理，而決定分享它的人們將接到一個預警。

Facebook said it had been in discussions with German media and publishing groups and was working to get more partners on board. “Our focus is on Germany right now but we’re certainly thinking through what countries will unveil next,” he said.

Facebook的一名發(fā)言人表示，該公司在與德國媒體和出版集團進行討論，正在努力爭取更多合作伙伴加入。“我們現(xiàn)在關注的是德國，但我們肯定會思考接下來要在各國推出什么機制，”他說。

The German government has been concerned that its elections could be influenced by the spread of fake news and the hacking of political campaigns, after false stories such as the Pope endorsing president-elect Donald Trump spread rapidly during the US elections and a recent US intelligence report found Russia intended to influence the election by hacking the Democratic National Committee.

德國政府擔心的是，該國的選舉可能受到假消息傳播和黑客攻擊政治競選團隊的影響，此前在美國大選期間，諸如教皇支持唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)當選總統(tǒng)之類的虛假報道迅速蔓延，而美國情報機構(gòu)最近發(fā)布的一份報告發(fā)現(xiàn)，俄羅斯曾意圖通過對民主黨全國委員會(DNC)發(fā)起黑客攻擊來影響選舉。

Berlin announced last month it was planning a law that would impose fines of up to €500,000 on Facebook for each item of fake news. Angela Merkel, the chancellor, has warned there are signs that online attacks and misinformation coming from Russia could “play a role in the election campaign”.

柏林方面上月宣布，它正在醞釀一部法律，將對Facebook上的每條假新聞開出至多50萬歐元的罰單。德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)已警告稱，有跡象顯示，來自俄羅斯的網(wǎng)絡攻擊和錯誤信息可能“在競選活動中發(fā)揮作用”。

In an interview with Welt Am Sonntag yesterday, Heiko Maas, Germany’s justice minister, warned that fake news posed a “danger to our culture of debate”, and added that, in extreme cases, those responsible could face up to five years in jail. “But social networks also have a duty. It can’t be in Facebook’s interest that its platform is misused in order to spread lies and hate campaigns. Criminal content should be deleted once it has been reported. It must be easier for users to report fake news.”

德國司法部長海科•馬斯(Heiko Maas)昨日在接受《周日世界報》(Die Welt am Sonntag)采訪時警告說，假新聞“對我們的辯論文化構(gòu)成一個危險”。他補充說，在極端情況下，要對假新聞負責的人可能面臨最高五年的監(jiān)禁。“但社交網(wǎng)絡也有責任。如果其平臺被濫用，被用來傳播謊言和仇恨宣傳，那不可能符合Facebook的利益。一旦接到報告，犯罪內(nèi)容應當被刪除。必須讓用戶更容易報告假新聞。”

Hannah Thoburn, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, who specialises in Russia and east European politics, said Germany had suffered from fake news at least since the start of last year.

華盛頓智庫哈德森研究所(Hudson Institute)專門研究俄羅斯和東歐政治的研究員漢娜•索伯恩(Hannah Thoburn)表示，德國至少從去年初開始就一直受到假新聞的困擾。

She said the German elections were going to be the “biggest target” for Russians out of all the European elections taking place in 2017 because Russia would like to see Ms Merkel replaced. “The German media is an old fashioned system grappling with a lot of these newfangled modes of conflict,” she said.

她說，在2017年歐洲各國將要舉行的選舉中，德國的選舉將成為俄羅斯的“最大目標”，因為俄羅斯希望看到默克爾下臺。“德國媒體是一個老派的體制，在應對很多這類新潮的沖突模式時有點力不從心，”她說。

Additional reporting by James Shotter in Frankfurt

詹姆斯•肖特(James Shotter)法蘭克福補充報道