Facebook正因其审核其平台上内容的方式而再次受到关注。此前，一项由报纸开展的调查披露了Facebook对员工的指导意见，该意见用于指导员工处理涉及暴力、仇恨性言论、虐待儿童及色情等问题的帖子。
The training manuals, which were published by the Guardian on Monday, reveal how the social media group’s 4,500 global moderators judge when to remove or allow offensive content.
由《卫报》(The Guardian)在周一发布的Facebook指导手册，揭示了这家社交媒体集团的4500名全球审核人员如何判断何时该删除或保留冒犯性内容。
They show how posts that threaten to kill Donald Trump, US president, are banned because heads of state are considered “vulnerable”, but violent threats against others are permitted.
指导手册显示，那些威胁要杀死美国总统唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的帖子会被封禁，因为政府首脑被视为“易受攻击”。不过，暴力威胁其他人的帖子则被允许保留。
For example, the manuals guide moderators that it is permissible to allow users to post messages such as “to snap a bitch’s neck, make sure to apply all your pressure to the middle of her throat”, on the grounds that the company does not consider them “credible” threats.
比如，手册指导审核人员可以允许用户发布诸如“要想捏断一个婊子的脖子，就必须确保用尽全力掐她喉咙中间”的帖子，理由是Facebook不认为这些是“可信的”威胁。
The manuals also show how the platform, which now has 1.94bn users, will allow livestreaming of attempts to self harm because Facebook “doesn’t want to censor or punish people in distress who are attempting suicide”.
手册还显示，这个如今拥有19.4亿用户的平台允许用户直播自我伤害企图，原因是它“不想审查或处罚正企图自杀的抑郁人士”。
Facebook said safety organisations had advised the social media group that leaving posts of this nature online allowed people to seek help.
Facebook表示，安全组织曾建议这家社交媒体集团，在网上保留这类帖子的话，人们将能够寻求帮助。
The revelations come as the group is under mounting pressure from politicians and campaigners who argue that it should take more responsibility for the content that appears on its website.
这些爆料出现之际，Facebook正面临政界人士及活动人士越来越大的压力。这些人声称，Facebook应为出现在其网站上的内容承担更多责任。
Last month, Facebook removed a video of a man in Thailand who murdered his baby daughter before killing himself. Two days later, another man in the US livestreamed his suicide by gunshot.
上月，Facebook删除了一名泰国男子的一段视频，这名男子在杀害了襁褓中的女儿后自杀身亡。两天后，美国另一名男子直播了用枪自杀的过程。
The guidelines only come into play after users flag potentially offensive content to Facebook. The company says it already has automated systems in place to stop the publication of certain types of material such as child sex abuse and terrorism.
只有在用户向Facebook举报了可能有冒犯性的内容后，这些指导意见才会发挥作用。Facebook表示，该公司已经配备了自动化系统，以防止发布特定类型的内容——比如儿童性虐待和恐怖主义内容。
Facebook confirmed the authenticity of the manuals, some of which were reproduced by the Guardian, but added that some of the material was out of date.
Facebook证实了手册(其中一些内容由《卫报》转载)的真实性，但补充称一些内容已经过时。
The company said the manuals were drawn up by a group of “highly trained people” with regular advice and input from external groups such as safety campaigners and non-governmental organisations. It added that the material was under constant review with the group holding weekly meetings.
该公司称，手册由一组“训练有素的人”制订，定期接受来自安全活动组织和非政府组织等外部组织的建议和意见。Facebook补充称，该小组每周举行会议，不断对手册内容进行审阅。
Monica Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, admitted that there were “grey areas” in policing content on its website.
Facebook全球政策管理的负责人莫妮卡•比克特(Monica Bickert)承认，在监督网站内容方面确实存在“灰色区域”。
“For instance the line between satire and humour and inappropriate content is sometimes very grey,” Ms Bickert told the Guardian. “It’s very difficult to decide whether some things belong on the site or not.”
“例如讽刺幽默和不当内容之间的界线有时会非常模糊，”比克特向《卫报》表示，“很难决定一些内容是否适合放在网上。”
In the UK, politicians have been stepping up the pressure on the social network. Last week, the Conservative party manifesto set out plans to reform the way technology and social media groups operate.
在英国，政界人士正加大对这家社交网站的施压。上周，保守党的竞选宣言提出了改革科技和社交媒体公司运营方式的计划。
“We want social media companies to do more to help redress the balance and will take action to make sure they do,” said Theresa May, prime minister.
“我们希望社交媒体公司付出更大努力恢复平衡，我们也将采取行动确保他们这么做，”英国首相特里萨•梅(Theresa May)表示。
A report by the select committee for culture, media and sport said earlier this month that “the biggest and richest social media companies are shamefully far from taking sufficient action to tackle illegal or dangerous content”.
本月早些时候，由文化、媒体和体育事务特别委员会发表的一份报告称，“可耻的是，最大、最富有的社交媒体公司远未采取足够行动来处理非法或危险内容”。
Charlie Beckett, director of Polis, a media think-tank based at the London School of Economics, said he was reassured by the leaks for suggesting that Facebook was taking the issue of content on its platform “seriously”.
伦敦政治经济学院(London School of Economics)媒体智库Polis的主任查利•贝克特(Charlie Beckett)称，曝光的Facebook指导手册表明Facebook正在“严肃”对待其平台上的内容问题，这令他感到安慰。
But he added: “Facebook is making taste decisions. What we may find offensive in the UK is likely to be very different to what people in Saudi Arabia find offensive. I’m concerned that freedom of expression campaigners will say even if it’s offensive, why not have it out there?”
但他补充称：“Facebook众口难调。我们在英国认为冒犯性的内容，与身在沙特阿拉伯的人认为冒犯性的内容，可能非常不同。我担心支持言论自由的活动人士会说即使具有冒犯性，为什么不能表达出来?”
