德国将成为美国以外首个受益于Facebook打击假新闻努力的国家。这家社交媒体集团正试图在今年该国举行选举之前遏制媒体骗局的扩散。
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.
世界最大社交网络将在未来几周内将其假新闻过滤工具引进德国。此前德国曾经流传一些耸人听闻的虚假报道，比如声称该国最古老的教堂被1000名暴徒焚烧。
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.
该社交网络的德国用户现在将能够举报一个故事为假新闻，相关故事将被转发至第三方事实核查机构Correctiv。如果事实核查机构发现它确实是假新闻，相关故事将被标记为“有争议”，并附带一个解释。有争议的故事不会得到新闻推送算法的优先处理，而决定分享它的人们将接到一个预警。
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的一名发言人表示，该公司在与德国媒体和出版集团进行讨论，正在努力争取更多合作伙伴加入。“我们现在关注的是德国，但我们肯定会思考接下来要在各国推出什么机制，”他说。
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.
德国政府担心的是，该国的选举可能受到假消息传播和黑客攻击政治竞选团队的影响，此前在美国大选期间，诸如教皇支持唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)当选总统之类的虚假报道迅速蔓延，而美国情报机构最近发布的一份报告发现，俄罗斯曾意图通过对民主党全国委员会(DNC)发起黑客攻击来影响选举。
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，它正在酝酿一部法律，将对Facebook上的每条假新闻开出至多50万欧元的罚单。德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)已警告称，有迹象显示，来自俄罗斯的网络攻击和错误信息可能“在竞选活动中发挥作用”。
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.”
德国司法部长海科•马斯(Heiko Maas)昨日在接受《周日世界报》(Die Welt am Sonntag)采访时警告说，假新闻“对我们的辩论文化构成一个危险”。他补充说，在极端情况下，要对假新闻负责的人可能面临最高五年的监禁。“但社交网络也有责任。如果其平台被滥用，被用来传播谎言和仇恨宣传，那不可能符合Facebook的利益。一旦接到报告，犯罪内容应当被删除。必须让用户更容易报告假新闻。”
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.
华盛顿智库哈德森研究所(Hudson Institute)专门研究俄罗斯和东欧政治的研究员汉娜•索伯恩(Hannah Thoburn)表示，德国至少从去年初开始就一直受到假新闻的困扰。
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.
她说，在2017年欧洲各国将要举行的选举中，德国的选举将成为俄罗斯的“最大目标”，因为俄罗斯希望看到默克尔下台。“德国媒体是一个老派的体制，在应对很多这类新潮的冲突模式时有点力不从心，”她说。
Additional reporting by James Shotter in Frankfurt
詹姆斯•肖特(James Shotter)法兰克福补充报道
