紐時賞析／美國期中選舉將至 社群媒體宣稱打假挨批光說不練

Social Media Companies Still Abet Election Denialism

社群媒體宣稱打假遭批光說不練

The major social media companies all say they are ready to deal with a torrent of misinformation surrounding the midterm elections in November.

主要的社群媒體公司都說，關於11月期中選舉的錯誤資訊洪流，他們已準備好要處理。

A report released on Monday, however, claimed that they continued to undermine the integrity of the vote by allowing election-related conspiracy theories to fester and spread.

然而，一份周一發表的報告宣稱，社群媒體仍持續破壞這次投票的正當性，任由和選舉相關的陰謀論惡化及散播。

In the report, the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University said the social media companies still host and amplify “election denialism,” threatening to further erode confidence in the democratic process.

紐約大學史登企業及人權中心在這份報告裡面表示，社群媒體公司仍然主導並放大「選舉否定主義」，恐將進一步侵蝕對民主過程的信心。

The companies, the report argued, bear a responsibility for the false but widespread belief among conservatives that the 2020 election was fraudulent — and that the coming midterms could be, too. The report joins a chorus of warnings from officials and experts that the results in November could be fiercely, even violently, contended.

報告主張，在保守人士間廣為流傳的錯誤說法，認為2020年大選有弊，即將來臨的期中選舉可能也一樣，這些社群公司要對此負起責任。報告和來自官員和專家的一系列警告，表示11月選舉結果可能發生強烈甚至暴力的爭議。

“The malady of election denialism in the U.S. has become one of the most dangerous byproducts of social media,” the report warned, “and it is past time for the industry to do more to address it.”

「美國選舉否定主義的弊病，已成為社群媒體最危險的副產品之一。」報告提醒，「而對於這個產業，做得更多來強調這一點，已成為過去式。」

The major platforms — Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube — have all announced promises or initiatives to combat disinformation ahead of the 2022 midterms, saying they were committed to protecting the election process. But the report said those measures were ineffective, haphazardly enforced or simply too limited.

包括臉書、推特、TikTok和YouTube，這些主要平台皆宣布在2022期中選舉前打擊假訊息的要點或計畫，表示他們承諾保護選舉過程。但是報告說，那些措施不管用、執行不確實或是限制太多。

Facebook, for example, announced it would ban ads that called into question the legitimacy of the coming elections, but it exempted politicians from its fact-checking program. That, the report says, allows candidates and other influential leaders to undermine confidence in the vote by questioning ballot procedures or other rules.

例如，臉書宣布，質疑這次即將來臨選舉合法性的廣告將被禁止，但其事實查核平台卻排除政治人物。報告說，此舉允許候選人和其他具影響力的領袖，藉由質疑投票程序和其他規定破壞對投票的信任。

The New York University report, which incorporated responses from all the companies except YouTube, called for greater transparency in how companies rank, recommend and remove content. It also said they should enhance fact-checking efforts and remove provably untrue claims, and not simply label them false or questionable.

這份紐約大學報告，納入除了YouTube以外所有公司的回應，呼籲各公司在如何排序、推薦及移除內容上更透明。報告也說，公司應該加強事實查核的嘗試，移除可證明的不實說法，而不僅是將它們標示為錯誤或有疑問。

A spokeswoman for Twitter, Elizabeth Busby, said the company was undertaking a multifaceted approach to ensuring reliable information about elections. That includes efforts to “pre-bunk” false information and to “reduce the visibility of potentially misleading claims via labels.”

推特發言人伊莉莎白．巴斯比說，該公司正進行一個多面向的方法，確保選舉的可信資訊，包括「提前破解」假訊息以及「減少可能具誤導性意見利用主題標籤的能見度」。

In a statement, YouTube said it agreed with “many of the points” made in the report and had already implemented many of its recommendations.

YouTube在聲明中說，同意報告中的「許多論點」，且已實行其多項建議。

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

TikTok則未回應評論要求。

文／Steven Lee Myers　譯／莊蕙嘉

說文解字看新聞

【張佑生】

美國國會期中選舉將屆，本文介紹各大社群媒體宣稱自己不是散播假訊息的幫凶，仍遭報告批判只是說說而已。美國的期中選舉被視為評估總統施政的期中考（assessing the President's performance at midterm）。

Misinformation和disinformation有時可交替使用。如果細分，前者是「錯誤訊息」，後者是「假訊息」，強調其惡意、不實與蓄意散布的性質。執行者稱網軍（Internet Trolls），此地的網軍、側翼「出征」異議人士，英文可用the trolling operation或 cyberbullying。

作者先後用了undermine和erode，兩字都有逐漸損害的意思，前者從根基下手，後者往往從表面，都可接confidence/authority/position/credibility。Erode也指侵蝕風化，例如岌岌可危的野柳女王頭：The Queen's Head rock is facing a race against time to save it from marine erosion.