The popular messaging service shows that Facebook’s efforts to fight fake news may fail
Jan?25th?2018
“THERE’S too much sensationalism, misinformation?andpolarisation?in the world today,”?lamented?Mark Zuckerberg, the?boss of Facebook, recently. To improve things, the world’s largest?social network?will cut the amount of news in users’ feeds by a fifth and attempt?to make?the remainder more reliable by?prioritising?information from sources?which users?think are trustworthy.
Many publishers are complaining:?they worry?that their content will show up less in users’ newsfeeds, reducing?clicks and?advertising revenues. But the bigger problem with Facebook’s latest?moves may?be?that they are unlikely to achieve much—at least if the flourishing?of fake?news on WhatsApp, the messaging app which Facebook bought in 2014 for$19bn, is any guide.
In more ways than one, WhatsApp is?the opposite?of Facebook. Whereas posts on Facebook can be seen by all of a?user’s friends, WhatsApp’s messages are?encrypted. Whereas Facebook’s newsfeeds?are curated?by algorithms that try to?maximise?the time users spend on the service, WhatsApp’s?stream of messages is solely generated by users. And whereas Facebook requires a fast connection, WhatsApp is not very data-hungry.
encrypt: to change information from one form to another especially to hide its meaning
現(xiàn)在有很多假新聞，謠言在社交媒體上傳播哪轿，F(xiàn)acebook就想通過減少在他們“朋友圈” 上的新聞推送來遏制這種情況盈魁，但是更嚴(yán)重的是在它在2014年購買的Whatsapp?
As a result, WhatsApp has become a?social network?to rival Facebook in many places, particularly in poorer countries. Of the service’s more than 1.3bn monthly users, 120m live in Brazil and 200m?in India?(see chart). With the exceptions of America, China, Japan?and?South Korea, WhatsApp is among the top three most-used social apps in all?big countries.
Most of the 55bn messages sent every?day are?harmless, but WhatsApp’s scale attracts all sorts of?mischief-makers. In South Africa the service is often used to spread false allegations of?civic corruption?and?hoax?warnings of storms, fires?and?other natural disasters. In Brazil?rumours?about people travel quickly: a mob recently set upon a?couple they?suspected of being child traffickers based on chatter on WhatsApp (the couple?escaped).
hoax: an act that is meant to trick or deceive people
WhatsApp 已經(jīng)是一款社交媒體平臺，它和Facebook在很多方面有競爭沖突的地方窃诉，特別是在比較貧窮的國家杨耙。它有13億月活躍用戶，巴西有1.2億用戶褐奴，印度有2億用戶按脚。當(dāng)用戶量達(dá)到這么大的時(shí)候，很多謠言就會在這款軟件上傳播地很快敦冬！
But it is in India where WhatsApp has?had the?most profound effect. It is now part of the country’s culture:many?older people?use?it and drive younger ones crazy by forwarding messages?indiscriminately—sometimes with tragic results. Last year, seven men in?the eastern?state of Jharkhand were murdered by angry villagers in two?separate incidents?after?rumours?circulated on WhatsApp warning of kidnappers in?the area. In a?gruesome?coda to the incident, pictures and videos from thelynching?also?went viral.
It is unclear how exactly?such misinformation?spreads, not least because traffic is encrypted. “It’s not?that we?have chosen not to look at it. It is impossible,” says Filippo Menczer?of Indiana?University’s Observatory on Social Media, which tracks the spread?of fake?news on Twitter and other online services. Misinformation on WhatsApp?is identified?only when it jumps onto another social-media platform or, as?in India, leads to tragic consequences.
gruesome: causing horror or disgust
lynch: to kill someone illegally as punishment for a crime
WhatsApp在印度的影響是最大的辅搬，因?yàn)橛《鹊睦夏耆艘苍谟眠@款軟件，而且經(jīng)常傳播一些謠言（是不是和微信里爸媽老一輩轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)傳播謠言是一模一樣的２焙怠？八臁） ，印度的年輕人深受其害萌庆，有時(shí)候還會發(fā)展為悲劇
Some patterns are becoming clear, however. Misinformation often spreads via group chats, which people?join voluntarily?and whose members—family, colleagues, friends, neighbours—they trust. That makes?rumours?more believable. Misinformation does not always?come in?the form of links, but often as forwarded texts and videos, which look?the same?as personal messages, lending them?a further veneer of legitimacy.?And since?users often receive the same message in multiple groups,?constant repetition?makes them more believable yet.
Predictably,?propagandists?have employed WhatsApp as a potent tool. In “Dreamers”, a book about young Indians,?Snigdha Poonam, a journalist, describes visiting a political party’s “social media?war room” in 2014. Workers spent their days “packaging as many insults as?possible into?one WhatsApp message”, which would then be sent out to party members to?be?propagated?within their own networks. Similar tactics are increasingly?visible elsewhere. Last month’s conference in South Africa of the African National Congress, at which delegates elected a new party leader, saw a flood?of messages?claiming victory for and conspiracy by both factions. With?elections due?in Brazil and Mexico this year, and in India next year, expect more?such?shenanigans.
veneer: a thin layer of wood or other material that is attached to the surface of something in order to make it look better
為什么謠言傳播那么快溶褪？有一點(diǎn)是清晰的，這些謠言一般來自群聊践险，群里的都是親戚猿妈，朋友，鄰居巍虫，都是互相信任的人彭则，這使得謠言更像真的；還有一般這些謠言不是以鏈接形式出現(xiàn)占遥，而是以文字俯抖，視頻的形式出現(xiàn)，像發(fā)給朋友的私人信息一樣瓦胎，更加逼真
shenanigans: activity or behavior that is not honest or proper
Governments and WhatsApp itself?are keenly?aware of the problem. In India authorities now regularly block?WhatsApp to?stop the spread of?rumours, for instance of?salt shortages. Regulators?in Kenya, Malaysia?and?South Africa have?mooted?the idea of holding moderators?of group?chats liable for false information in their groups. WhatsApp is?working on?changing the appearance of forwarded messages in the hope that visual?cues will?help users tell the difference between messages from friends and?those?of unknown?provenance. But ultimately it will be down to users to be?more responsible?and not blindly forward messages they receive.
It is as yet unclear whether fake news?on Facebook?will be less of a problem after it changes its algorithms.?The experience?of WhatsApp suggests, however, that the concerns will persist. “Even with?all these counter measures, the battle will never end,” Samidh Chakrabarti, a?Facebook executive admitted on January 22nd. “Misinformation campaigns?are not?amateur operations. They are?professionalised?and constantly try?to?game the?system.”
moot: to introduce (an idea, subject, etc.) for discussion?
政府和WhatsApp 都意識到了這個(gè)問題芬萍，印度已經(jīng)開始經(jīng)常屏蔽它，來減少謠言傳播搔啊，要不然經(jīng)常就鬧鹽荒柬祠。其他國家也出相應(yīng)的措施，WhatsApp也開始標(biāo)記那些沒有經(jīng)過證實(shí)的轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)信息负芋，最關(guān)鍵還是用戶得謹(jǐn)慎轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)這些信息
to game the system 這個(gè)用法記起來
總結(jié)：不怕社交媒體火起來瓶盛，就怕中老年人也在玩，各國的中老年人都愛轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)謠言，從QQ到微信惩猫，從中國到印度芝硬！
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Results
Lexile?Measure: 1200L - 1300L
Mean Sentence Length: 17.17
Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.13
Word Count: 790
這篇文章的藍(lán)思值是在1200-1300L， 適合英語專業(yè)大三的水平學(xué)習(xí)轧房，是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人里普通難度
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