2020年经济学人 站在风口浪尖的Facebook(1)

Business

商业版块

Big tech and antitrust

大型科技企业与反垄断

Battle commences

战争打响

A formidable alliance takes on Facebook. Investors¹ don’t seem to care

一个强大的联盟与Facebook展开了较量。但投资者似乎不以为意。

Letitia James, New York’s attorney-general, couldn’t be blunter in describing the antitrust case lodged² on December 9th against the world’s biggest social network. “By using its vast troves of data and money Facebook has squashed or hindered what the company perceived as potential threats. They’ve reduced choices for consumers, they stifled³ innovation and they degraded privacy protections for millions of Americans,” she declared, summarising the accusations⁴. Forty-five states joined her bipartisan coalition⁵ against the giant. Separately, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Facebook for monopolistic practices in social-networking and demanded remedies including the firm’s break-up.

12月9日，美国政府针对全球最大的社交网络Facebook发起了反垄断诉讼，纽约州总检察长莱蒂娅·詹姆斯言辞犀利地对此诉讼案进行了描述。“Facebook通过使用自身巨大的数据和资金宝库，对其认为的潜在威胁进行压制或阻碍。他们限制了消费者的选择，扼杀了创新，并减少了数百万美国人获得隐私保护的机会，”她在总结时宣称。她同45个州联手组成两党联盟，共同抵制社交网络巨头Facebook。另外，联邦贸易委员会对Facebook在社交网络领域的垄断行为提起诉讼，并要求Facebook采取分拆等补救措施。

A few years ago co-ordinated action by 46 states and the FTC that could split Facebook apart was unthinkable, says Lina Khan, an antitrust scholar at Columbia Law School. But the case is about more than narrow competition law. The controversies⁶ around Facebook’s privacy practices, the spread of fake news and conspiracy⁷ theories on the platform, and its exploitation by authoritarian⁸ regimes mean regulators and politicians are set on forcing change.

哥伦比亚法学院的反垄断学者丽娜·可汗说，46个州和联邦贸易委员会要是在几年前发起可能会使Facebook拆分的联合行动，那太匪夷所思了。但此案不仅仅是关于狭义的竞争法。Facebook还存在诸多方面的争议，包括Facebook在用户隐私上的做法、平台上虚假新闻和阴谋论的传播以及独裁政权的利用，这都意味着监管机构和政客们开始迫使Facebook发生变革。

Will they succeed? The cases look strong. Experts judge Facebook to be the lowest-hanging antitrust fruit, alongside Google (which America’s Justice Department sued over alleged⁹ monopoly abuses in October). Amazon and Apple are in the crosshairs, but those cases will take longer, if they come at all, says an antitrust expert.

他们会成功吗？诉讼案看起来胜算很大。专家们认为，同谷歌（美国司法部10月因谷歌涉嫌垄断滥用而起诉谷歌）一样，Facebook的案件轻而易举。一位反垄断专家表示，亚马逊和苹果正处于众矢之的，但针对亚马逊和苹果的反垄断诉讼案如果真的来了，将需要更长的时间。

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 stifled   

（使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵

参考例句：

• The gas stifled them. 煤气使他们窒息。
• The rebellion was stifled. 叛乱被镇压了。

4 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

5 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

6 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

7 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

8 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

9 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为