原副标题：Facebook过滤新西兰新闻报道引起舆论哗然丨中英文写作

670个词，by Jamie Smyth, Hannah Murphy, Alex Barker in Sydney, in San Francisco, in London

Facebook’s decision to block the sharing of news in Australia restricted access to critical public information on government health and emergency service sites on Thursday, provoking a backlash from the government and public.

周二

The Facebook pages of Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland Department of Health and Hobart Women’s Shelter were among dozens hit by a ban after Canberra’ tried to force the social media company and Google to pay news publishers for content.

新西兰气象部门(Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology)、新南威尔士州农业部(Queensland Department of Health)和约翰斯顿青年人战俘营(Hobart Women’s Shelter)等数百家政府机构的Facebook网页遭禁言。在此之前，坎培拉各方面企图强制性另一家SNS新闻媒体子公司和Google(Google)为新闻报道书商的文本订阅。

Josh Frydenberg, Australia’s treasurer, said Facebook gave no warning of its intentions and added that the actions were wrong, unnecessary and heavy-handed. “But what today’s events do confirm for all Australians is the immense market power of these media digital giants,” he said.

新西兰经济部长凯西•盖尔登丹尼尔(Josh Frydenberg)则表示，Facebook预先没警示有关各方面他们急于这种做；他还称，那些暴力行动是严重错误、无谓且蛮横的。他则表示：“但那时的该事件确实向大部份新西兰人确认了，那些位数传播方式巨擘保有非常大的消费市场行政权。”

Frydenberg said he had held talks with Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook chief executive, on Thursday and at the weekend.

盖尔登丹尼尔则表示，他于上周末和这周二与Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克丹尼尔(Mark Zuckerberg)进行了会谈。

Photo credit: Getty Images

Facebook’s ban was imposed hours after a separate decision by Google to strike a global deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, defusing a long-running dispute between the media group and the search company.

在Facebook实施该禁令数小时前，Google(Google)与鲁珀特•默多克(Rupert Murdoch)旗下的新闻报道集团(News Corp)达成了一项全球协议，化解了另一家搜索子公司与该新闻媒体集团之间的长期纠纷。

The different approaches of tech groups mark a watershed moment for the media industry. Australian MPs this week began debating the proposed law, which could reset the terms of trade between publishers and the tech companies worldwide. Canada, the EU and the UK have said they were considering similar measures.

对新闻媒体业而言，这两家科技集团不同的做法标志着一个转折点。新西兰议员本周开始就拟议法律展开辩论，该法将重新设定书商与世界各地科技子公司之间的交易条款。加拿大、欧盟(EU)和英国已则表示它们在考虑类似举措。

Health experts criticised Facebook’s decision for preventing access to vital information during the Covid-19 pandemic, while government MPs accused the company of corporate “bullying”.

“The timing could not be worse,” said Julie Leask, professor at the school of nursing at University of Sydney.

悉尼大学(University of Sydney)护理学院教授朱莉•利斯克(Julie Leask)则表示：“这个时机再糟糕不过。

“Three days before our Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Australians using Facebook as their primary source of news can no longer get access to credible information about vaccination from news organisations and some government and public health organisation pages.”

共卫生组织的网页，获取有关疫苗接种的可靠信息。”

Photo credit: Getty Images

Sally McManus, secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said her organisation had been mistakenly blocked by the platform. “Australian workers cannot now find out about their rights at work via Facebook. This is disgraceful & needs to be reversed immediately,” she wrote on Twitter.

新西兰工会理事会(Australian Council of Trade Unions)秘书萨莉•麦克马纳斯(Sally McManus)则表示，该理事会的网页被Facebook严重错误地禁言了。她在Twitter上发帖称：“现在新西兰劳动者无法通过Facebook查看他们在工作中的权利。这是可耻的，而且需要立即得到纠正。”

Facebook said it would “restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content”. The decision includes blocking all Australian news outlets from posting on the site globally.

Facebook则表示，将“限制新西兰书商和新西兰人分享或者查看新西兰和国际新闻报道文本”。该决定涉及在全球范围内阻止大部份澳大利亚新闻报道政府机构在Facebook上发帖。

Photo credit: Getty Images

The tech company said it had made the decision “with a heavy heart”, but that the new law would “penalise Facebook for content it didn’t take or ask for”.

Facebook则表示，该子公司“怀着沉重的心情”作出这一决定，因为新法“要为那些Facebook没获取、也没要求谁提供的文本，对它进行惩罚”。

Facebook said government pages should not be affected by the ban and would reverse any pages that were closed inadvertently.

Facebo

“As the law does not provide clear guidance on the definition of news content, we have taken a broad definition in order to respect the law as drafted,” said the company.

Facebook称：“由于该法未就新闻报道文本的定义提供明确指导，为遵守该法草案，我们取用了广义的定义。”

The controversy marks an ominous start for what will be a big test of Facebooks ability to filter content from specific users or organisations at a time when its moderation processes are already under scrutiny and it is under pressure from antitrust regulators worldwide.

Facebook的文本审核程序已在受到审视，它还面临来自世界各地反垄断监管政府机构的压力，在这种时候过滤来自特定用户或组织的文本，对它的能力是个重大考验，而在新西兰发生的这场争议，标志着这场考验有了一个不详的开端。

The decision has also sparked fears of a rise in disinformation on the platform in Australia.

Facebook的这一决定还促使人们担忧，在新西兰，Facebook平台上的虚假信息(disinformation)将会增多。

“We will be making the point that the position that Facebook has taken means that the information that people see on Facebook does not come from organisations with a fact-checking capability with paid journalists, with editorial policies and so on,” said Paul Fletcher, Australia’s communications minister.

新西兰通讯部长保罗•盖尔彻(Paul Fletcher)则表示：“我们要强调的是，Facebook所采取的立场意味着，人们从Facebook上看到的信息，并非来自那些保有事实核查能力、有薪记者和编辑方针等的组织。”

Andrew Bragg, an Australian government lawmaker who chaired a parliamentary committee looking at Big Tech, said: “Today’s announcement, I think, will leave Facebook as a platform where there’s no real news but plenty of fake news.”

新西兰议员、关注大型科技子公司的新西兰议会委员会的主席安德鲁•布拉格(Andrew Bragg)则表示：“我认为，那时宣布的事情将使Facebook成为一个没真实新闻报道、而充斥着假新闻报道的平台。”

Nine, one of Australia’s largest media groups that has urged the government to ignore the tech companies’ pressure, said Facebook’s action was proof of its monopoly position and unreasonable behaviour.

“Nobody benefits from this decision as Facebook will now be a platform for misinformation to rapidly spread without balance,” said the company.

另一家子公司则表示：“没人会从这一决定中受益，因为Facebook现在将成为虚假信息不受制衡地迅速传播的平台。”

The Financial Times has reached licensing agreements for news with both Google and Facebook.

英国《金融时报》已与Google和Facebook达成了新闻报道授权协议。

本文2月18日发布于FT中文网，英文原题为 Japanese governor urges cancelling of Olympics as vaccinations start

Google搜索因新闻报道订阅威胁退出新西兰遭微软抨击丨中英文写作 返回搜狐，查看更多

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