Facebook 的焦慮

{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"美國衆議院司法機構反壟斷小組委員會在去年7月的聽證會上， Facebook 首席執行官馬克·扎克伯格爲公司採取的一些更有爭議的措施進行辯護。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"“議員們，我認爲我們有責任限制對人們有害的內容的傳播。此外，我還想補充一點，我認爲我們沒有理由在服務中加入這類內容。人們不喜歡這種方式，”扎克伯格開始說道。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但是，小組委員會主席、後來領導該委員會針對 Facebook 和其他科技公司發佈的反壟斷報告的民主黨衆議員 David Ciciline 很快與他斷絕了往來。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"“恕我直言，扎克伯格先生，這句話通常是最有吸引力的，”Ciciline 這樣評價這句不受歡迎的話。他說：“它能帶來最多的讚譽，或最多的活動，當然也能帶來巨大的利潤。所以，你的確有動力：參與得越多，你就能從廣告中賺得越多。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 2019 年的利潤中 90% 來自於廣告收入。截至 2020 年 9 月 30 日，Facebook 的營收已接近 580 億美元，其中，單是廣告收入就接近 570 億美元，這使得 Facebook 的總收入有望超過 2019 年 700 多億美元。僅僅在第三財季，該公司的收入總額比去年增長了 22%，許多人認爲這是因爲用戶在新冠肺炎疫情期間更多地使用社交媒體。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"對於這家社交媒體巨頭來說，2020 年就這樣過去了：在獲得鉅額利潤的同時，如何經營也是一個很大的問題。無論 Facebook 擔心如何監管仇恨言論和錯誤信息，還是擔心它如何應對聯邦競爭訴訟，它都面臨着各種挑戰：競爭對手、兩黨當選的官員、仇恨言論的監督者以及州和聯邦檢察官。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"虛假信息的巨人"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"從 QAnon 到新冠肺炎疫情的騙局，再到否認大屠殺，由於這個世界上最大的社交媒體平臺爲妥善監管其平臺上的有害言論和虛假信息而做出的努力，受到了前所未有的熱議。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"據 Facebook 自己的廣告門戶稱，就在今年 4 月，Facebook 還允許廣告商從針對 7800 多萬對僞科學感興趣的人羣的廣告中獲利，其中包括關於 5G、新冠肺炎疫情和化學武器的陰謀論。Facebook 在 The Markup 提出置評後刪除了僞科學類別。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在今年 10 月，Facebook 宣佈將禁止 QAnon Theory 在其網站上發佈，但是幾天之後，The Markup 發現了該平臺上的一則廣告（隨後被刪除），該廣告與 QAnon 的熱門視頻鏈接在 Facebook 的一個頁面。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"同樣是在 10 月，Facebook 宣佈不再允許任何“否認和歪曲大屠殺”的內容，但 The Markup 發現，Facebook 上有許多知名的“否認大屠殺”團體的活躍頁面。其中一些網頁隨後也被撤下 了。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"但是最令人擔心的是美國 2020 年大選。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 在大選前幾個星期關閉了政治廣告，悄然停止了對政治團體的“推薦”，因爲人們預期競選活動將會激烈，總統選舉結果也會引起爭議。在 11 月 3 日之前的最後幾天， Instagram 還禁止美國用戶在標籤頁上顯示“最新”標籤，以減少實時傳播潛在的選舉誤導信息。12 月初， Instagram 恢復了“最新”標籤。最近，Facebook 解除了政治廣告禁令，但是隻對佐治亞州的用戶發佈的該州參議院決選的廣告。Facebook 並沒有立即對是否恢復建議政治團體這一問題做出迴應。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"最後，該平臺避免了 11 月份的重大災難——儘管立法者告訴扎克伯格，在整個漫長的競選期間，該公司沒有采取足夠的措施來消除錯誤信息。10 月，一家公司發佈報告稱，Facebook 因其“不真實的協作行爲”刪除了三個網絡，其中兩個是針對美國政治和大選的。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"扎克伯格和他的妻子普莉希拉·陳還向非營利組織個人捐贈了 4 億美元，在資金嚴重短缺的情況下，這些組織爲當地選舉辦公室提供了工作人員、選票掃描設備、防護裝備和租賃場地。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"日益增長的員工異議"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 以前也曾面臨過內部動盪，但與 2020 年的情況完全不同。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 的高管們一直處在一場拉鋸戰的中間，一方是要求言論自由的用戶，另一方是要求公司取締那些發表仇恨言論和虛假信息的用戶，後者包括很多員工和一些廣告商。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"6 月，數百名 Facebook 員工舉行罷工，要求該平臺對唐納德·特朗普總統的帖子處理不力予以關注，導致員工滿意度下降，西雅圖一名工程師被解僱。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"9 月，Facebook 員工 Sophie Zhang 被解僱，他在備忘錄中說，世界各地的政客和政治團體爲了獲得政治利益，在這個平臺上廣泛地濫用這個平臺。另外一個內部備忘錄呼籲 Facebook 的領導人解決那些被懷疑偏袒印度強硬派印度教政治家的模式。雖然 Facebook 爲選舉做好準備（無論多麼遲），但一些 Facebook 員工發現，Facebook 並沒有努力阻止仇恨言論，於是辭職。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 前選舉廣告誠信負責人 Yaël Eisenstat 告訴 BuzzFeed，該公司的內容審查政策常常前後不一，難以適應政治或公共關係因素。“他們將政治考慮置於嚴格執行其政策的法律之上，” 她說。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"同時，該平臺上的版主（通常是承包商）要求公司在疫情爆發期間提供更安全的工作條件。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在公司會議上，員工的不滿也在醞釀。例如，八月份，在威斯康星州基諾沙市發生槍擊事件後，員工們質疑扎克伯格如何處理公司平臺上的民兵和陰謀頁面。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"最近， Facebook 員工在泄漏的內部公開評論和音頻中也批評公司與蘋果的關係日益緊張，因爲蘋果計劃讓 iPhone 用戶明確選擇跨應用進行跟蹤。有些員工認爲 Facebook 反對蘋果改變政策的行爲是自私的。Facebook 宣稱，蘋果的政策改變將會傷害那些使用追蹤器鎖定潛在客戶的小公司。在某公司的網上論壇上，一名工程師寫道：“這讓人覺得我們是在爲做壞事辯護，並藏在別人的背後傳遞同情。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"2020 年，監管者覺醒"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"在 2020 年的最後幾周，Facebook 分別遭到兩起反壟斷訴訟。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"第一起訴訟是由美國聯邦貿易委員會在哥倫比亞特區地方法院提起的，除其他補救措施外，還尋求撤銷 Instagram 和 WhatsApp 涉嫌反競爭的收購。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"美國聯邦貿易委員會的起訴書稱，Facebook 重蹈了“與其競爭不如購買”的覆轍。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"另一起訴訟由 46 個州的總檢察長，加上關島和華盛頓特區的總檢察長在同一法院提起，同樣尋求制止被指控的反競爭行爲，並將該公司分拆。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"“Facebook 的壟斷地位使得它在很大程度上控制了用戶如何與他們最親密的關係進行互動，”各州的申訴書中寫道，“以及用戶在互動時看到的內容……。個人社交網絡服務的用戶已經並將繼續遭受來自 Facebook 非法行爲帶來的各種危害，包括用戶體驗質量下降、個人社交網絡的選擇減少、創新受到壓制，以及在潛在競爭服務上投資減少。”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 稱這起訴訟是“修正主義歷史”，而“與反壟斷法的運作方式無關”。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"由 10 名檢察官組成的美國德克薩斯州東區地方法院起訴谷歌的反壟斷訴訟稱，Facebook 和谷歌在廣告方面非法合謀，並同意在反壟斷審查方面相互協助。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"與此同時，歐洲監管機構致信 Facebook，責令其停止向美國發送歐洲用戶的數據，因爲他們擔心美國政府將如何使用這些數據。儘管 Facebook 威脅說要因爲這個命令而徹底離開歐洲大陸，但它還沒有這麼做。在此期間，爲了遵守歐盟的其他隱私條款，該公司還被迫關閉了歐洲 Messenger 和 Instagram 的一些功能。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":2},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"存亡威脅"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"該公司還面臨着潛在的立法威脅，因爲之前要求廢除《通訊規範法案》（Communications Decency act）第 230 條 的呼聲不斷升級。技術公司爭辯說，這一條款爲他們提供了廣泛的責任保護，保護他們平臺上可能存在的有害第三方內容。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"噹噹選總統喬·拜登和其他民主黨人呼籲廢除第 230 條保護措施時，儘管有數據表明保守派的新聞文章在 Facebook 上很受歡迎，但特朗普總統、參議員 Ted Cruz（共和黨，德克薩斯州）、參議員 Josh Hawley（共和黨，密蘇里州）和其他共和黨人也通過推特、聽證會、行政命令和立法提案反對這項法律保護措施。參議院 Mitch McConnell（共和黨，肯塔基州）正在試圖將發放 2000 美元的經濟刺激支票與廢除第 230 條掛鉤。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"Facebook 和其他平臺一直在抵制這樣的提議。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"“這樣做會懲罰那些選擇允許有爭議言論的公司，並鼓勵平臺對任何可能冒犯他人的內容進行審查。”Facebook 發言人 Liz Bourgeois 在特朗普發佈行政命令時表示，這一命令最終沒有任何法律效力。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"如果 230 條款以某種方式被廢除，專家表示，可能會要求 Facebook 和其他網絡平臺對上傳的所有內容進行過濾，以避免潛在的連帶責任對有害言論作出反應，正如報紙一樣。它會極大地改變他們當前的商業模式，有可能影響他們的人氣和利潤。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"多數人不認爲這項法案很快就會被廢除，但是和其他科技巨頭不同，扎克伯格表示支持對它進行重新評估。扎克伯格自己在最近的一次財報電話會議上也對另外一項兩黨提議表示贊同，這項提議將要求透明，並對平臺如何以及審查的內容制定標準流程。“我認爲，像這樣一種要求企業達到一定的門檻或者表現出改進的制度，在很大程度上是以正確的方式調整激勵，” 他表示。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"heading","attrs":{"align":null,"level":4},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"作者介紹："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"David Bradley Isenberg，住在美國紐約市的記者、作家。紐約州律師協會會員。《白領犯罪》播客（white-collar crime podcast）共同主持人。"}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"strong"}],"text":"原文鏈接："}]},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null}},{"type":"paragraph","attrs":{"indent":0,"number":0,"align":null,"origin":null},"content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/themarkup.org\/2020-in-review\/2020\/12\/31\/facebooks-had-an-anxiety-producing-2020"}]}]}