VOA慢速英語：社交媒體公司因為俄羅斯干涉選舉受到批評

Social Media Companies Criticized over Russian Interference

社交媒體公司因為俄羅斯干涉選舉受到批評

United States lawmakers questioned representatives of Facebook, Twitter and Google over Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

美國議員就俄羅斯試圖影響2016年美國總統(tǒng)大選對Facebook、Twitter和Google的代表進(jìn)行了質(zhì)詢。

The U.S. Congress is investigating how Russia used the companies' internet services to spread disinformation during the election. Congress also asked how the companies planned to stop the misuse of their services in the future.

美國國會正在調(diào)查俄羅斯在大選期間如何利用這些公司的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)來散播虛假信息。國會還詢問了這些公司計劃在未來如何阻止其服務(wù)被濫用。

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr of North Carolina spoke to lawyers from the three companies at a hearing on Wednesday. He said media reports suggested that Russian-linked Facebook advertisements "directly influenced the election's outcome."

來自北卡羅來納州的美國參議院情報委員會主席理查德·波爾(Richard Burr)在周三的聽證會上與這三家公司的律師進(jìn)行了交談。他說，媒體報道認(rèn)為，與俄羅斯相關(guān)的Facebook廣告“直接影響了選舉結(jié)果。”

The reports claim Russian government agents spent as much as $100,000 on Facebook advertisements.

這些報道聲稱，俄羅斯政府代理人在Facebook廣告上花費了高達(dá)10萬美元。

"You must do better to protect the American people and...all of your users from this kind of manipulation," Burr said.

波爾說：“”你們必須更好地保護(hù)美國人民以及所有你們的用戶不受這種操縱。”

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California argued that social media companies are responsible for the material placed on their websites.

加利福尼亞州參議員黛安·范斯坦(Dianne Feinstein)認(rèn)為，社交媒體公司要對投放到他們網(wǎng)站上的材料負(fù)責(zé)。

Fienstein expressed anger over the reports and suggested that lawmakers may take action.

范斯坦對這些報道表示憤怒，并建議議員們可以采取行動。

She said, "You've created these platforms, and now they are being misused. And you have to be the ones to do something about it – or we will."

她說：“你們創(chuàng)造了這些網(wǎng)站平臺，而現(xiàn)在它們正在被濫用。你們必須就此做些事情，否則我們就會出手。”

Facebook, Instagram and Twitter identified some of the material that has been connected to Russian agents. Democratic Party members on the House Intelligence Committee showed examples of this material during the hearings.

Facebook、Instagram和Twitter發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些跟俄羅斯代理人有關(guān)的材料。眾議院情報委員會的民主黨成員在聽證會上展示了這些材料的例子。

The advertisements, videos and tweets covered topics including race, immigration, Islam, and issues of sexual identity.

這些廣告、視頻和推文涵蓋了種族、移民、伊斯蘭教和性別認(rèn)同問題。

Facebook, Twitter and Google have admitted that agents connected to Russia used false accounts on their sites throughout 2015 and 2016.

Facebook、Twitter和Google都承認(rèn)，2015年到2016年期間，和俄羅斯有關(guān)的代理人在他們的網(wǎng)站上使用了虛假賬戶。

They used the accounts and other methods to spread false advertisements and messages designed to make people angry. Facebook lawyer Colin Stretch told lawmakers last Wednesday that Russian-backed posts on his company's site reached millions of Americans.

他們利用這些賬戶以及其它辦法傳播旨在使人們憤怒的虛假廣告和信息。Facebook的律師柯林·斯特雷奇(Colin Stretch)上周三對議員們表示，該公司網(wǎng)站上受俄羅斯支持的帖子傳播給了數(shù)百萬美國人。

Lawyers for all three companies stated that they take the problem seriously and are aggressively fighting it.

這三家公司的律師都表示，他們認(rèn)真對待了這個問題，并在積極與之對抗。

Sean Edgett, a lawyer for Twitter, repeated a statement he made to the Senate Judiciary Committee one day earlier. He said the company has studied all the posts on its site from September 1 to November 15, 2016. Edgett said Twitter has suspended 2,752 accounts suspected of Russian links.

Twitter的律師肖恩·艾吉特(Sean Edgett)重復(fù)了他前一天向參議院司法委員會發(fā)表的聲明。他說，該公司研究了他們網(wǎng)站從2016年9月1日到11月15日期間的所有帖子。艾吉特表示，推特已經(jīng)暫停了2752個涉嫌與俄羅斯存在關(guān)聯(lián)的賬戶。

Colin Stretch said that false advertisements "were a very small fraction of the overall content on Facebook.

斯特雷奇表示，這些虛假廣告“在Facebook所有網(wǎng)站內(nèi)容中只占非常小的比例。”

He said, however, that the company was taking measures to improve. "We're hiring more ad reviewers, doubling or more our security engineering efforts, putting in place tighter content restrictions," he said. Stretch added that buyers of political ads would have to provide documentation about themselves.

他說，然而該公司采取了改善措施。他表示，“我們會雇傭更多廣告審查人員，雙倍甚至更多地強化我們的計算機(jī)安全工程措施，并且對內(nèi)容進(jìn)行更嚴(yán)格的限制。”斯特雷奇補充說，政治廣告投放人必須提供關(guān)于自身的文件。

The House Select Committee also met on the issue

眾議院特別委員會也就此問題進(jìn)行了會面

A few hours after meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee, the companies' lawyers met with the House Select Committee on Intelligence to discuss the same issue.

在與參議院情報委員會委員們進(jìn)行數(shù)小時會面之后，這些公司的律師會見了眾議院情報特別委員會來討論同樣的問題。

Republicans on that committee mainly discussed information from the websites showing when the Russian disinformation efforts began.

該委員會的共和黨人主要討論了來自這些網(wǎng)站的信息表明俄羅斯的造假措施始于何時。

The information showed that these efforts started before the Republican Party nominated Donald Trump as its presidential candidate.

這些信息顯示，這些措施始于共和黨提名川普作為該黨總統(tǒng)候選人之前。

Senator James Risch of Idaho said, "This is a whole lot broader than simply the 2016 election.

愛達(dá)荷州詹姆斯·里施(James Risch)表示：“這比單純影響2016年大選要廣泛地多。”

Google's lawyer Kent Walker agreed. He said, "The large majority of the material we saw was socially divisive rather than electoral advocacy."

Google的律師肯特·沃克(Kent Walker)表示認(rèn)同。他說：“我們看到的大部分材料是社會分化，而不是選舉倡議。”

However, some Democrats disagreed. Representative Adam Schiff of California said Russian ads targeted stories about Hillary Clinton's health and legal problems.

然而，一些民主黨人不認(rèn)同。加利福尼亞州代表亞當(dāng)·希夫(Adam Schiff)說，俄羅斯廣告針對了關(guān)于希拉里的健康和法律問題的傳聞。

Some Democrats also accused the technology businesses of being slow to recognize and combat the threat.

一些民主黨人還指責(zé)這些科技企業(yè)遲遲不承認(rèn)并打擊這種威脅。

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia said the big social media companies have a lot of information about Americans. "And the idea that you had no idea that any of this was happening strains my credibility," he said.

弗吉尼亞州參議員馬克·華納(Mark Warner)表示，大型社交媒體企業(yè)擁有大量關(guān)于美國人的信息。他說：“你們對發(fā)生的這些毫無察覺，這損害了我的信譽。”

Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are holding yearlong investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Reports from both are expected at a future date.

眾議院和參議員情報委員會都對俄羅斯干涉2016年大選進(jìn)行了為期一年的調(diào)查。參眾兩院得出的調(diào)查報告有望在未來某天公開發(fā)布。

Members of both parties in the Senate have introduced legislation to deal with the problem. The bills would require internet-based services to confirm and make public the identities of those buying political advertising. U.S. broadcasters are already required to do that.

參議院兩黨成員已經(jīng)出臺了一些法案來處理這個問題。這些法案將會要求互聯(lián)網(wǎng)服務(wù)確認(rèn)并公布購買政治廣告者的身份。美國廣播公司已經(jīng)被要求這樣做。

I'm ­Jonathan Evans.

喬納森·埃文斯報道。