美国国家公共电台 NPR Facebook Founder And CEO Mark Zuckerberg Testifies On Capitol Hill

Facebook Founder¹ And CEO Mark Zuckerberg Testifies On Capitol Hill

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced nearly five hours of grilling² on Capitol Hill today. Forty-some senators were putting questions to him on how the personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users got into the hands of a political data mining firm, Cambridge Analytica. Zuckerberg acknowledged his company had messed up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARK ZUCKERBERG: This episode has clearly hurt us and has clearly made it harder for us to achieve the social mission that we care about. And we now have to do a lot of work around building trust.

KELLY: Senators also raised questions about other controversies³ involving Facebook. NPR's Alina Selyukh is back with us. She was there for all five hours of the testimony⁴. Congratulations on surviving, Alina. The hearing's wrapped up now. What was the big takeaway for you? What was the headline?

ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE⁵: So the big theme of the hearing definitely had everything to do with this kind of unclear to most users scope of access that Facebook has to their lives. Remember; this is - this was all started because of Cambridge Analytica, as you were saying. Suddenly people were realizing that their clicks and likes were kind of taking a life on their own once they were on Facebook. And so this hearing specifically highlighted just how little people on Facebook understand the amounts of - the amount of control that they have over information. There was one very telling moment when Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat⁷, asked Zuckerberg about this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DICK DURBIN: Mr. Zuckerberg, would you be comfortable sharing with us the name of the hotel you stayed in last night?

ZUCKERBERG: (Laughter) No.

(LAUGHTER)

DURBIN: If you've messaged anybody this week, would you share with us the names of the people you've messaged?

ZUCKERBERG: Senator, no, I would probably not choose to do that publicly here.

DURBIN: I think that may be what this is all about.

SELYUKH: Right. It's the amount of trust that people put into Facebook, and now questions being raised about what Facebook does with that trust.

KELLY: Did we ever find out where Mark Zuckerberg - what hotel he was in last night? Not that you're on it.

SELYUKH: (Laughter) I'm on it right after this.

KELLY: Well, see if lawmakers get to that tomorrow. For today's hearing, what was the overall tone? I mean, there were - there's been a lot of pent-up frustration⁸ with Facebook on Capitol Hill, a lot of lawmakers waiting for years to put questions with him. How did it all unfold?

SELYUKH: You know, it could have been a lot worse. There was a lot of fascination⁹ with the sort of origin story of Facebook, a lot of references to his dorm room. There were of course some moments of real scrutiny¹⁰. Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican from South Carolina, asked whether Facebook or Zuckerberg considered Facebook a monopoly, which is a big word to utter. And there was this moment - very notable - at the end of the hearing with Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN KENNEDY: Here's what everybody's been trying to tell you, and I say this gently. Your user agreement sucks.

(LAUGHTER)

KENNEDY: You can spot me 75 IQ points. If I can figure it out, you can figure it out. The purpose of that user agreement is to cover Facebook's rear end. It's not to inform your users about their rights.

SELYUKH: What he's talking about is Facebook's fine print. And he - which he says Facebook should go back and rewrite. And he says he doesn't really want to regulate Facebook, but, you know, he just might.

KELLY: What about this central question? If you're thinking about regulating Facebook, you have to figure out what Facebook is. This has been an ongoing¹¹ question...

SELYUKH: Right.

KELLY: ...How Facebook defines itself. Is it a publisher? Is it a media company? Is it a...

SELYUKH: Neutral platform.

KELLY: ...Tech company? Yeah. Is it a utility? What is it?

SELYUKH: This came up a number of times. And there was one specific exchange after a question with - from Senator Dan Sullivan, Republican of Alaska.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ZUCKERBERG: I agree that we're responsible for the content. But we don't produce the content. I think that when people ask us if we're a media company or a publisher, my understanding of what the heart of what they're really getting at is, do we feel responsibility for the content on our platform? The answer to that I think is clearly yes.

SELYUKH: This was a very rehearsed, very prepared answer to this long-running question. For years Facebook has bristled¹² at a comparison to a media company. And this is sort of the slow acceptance of some responsibility for the content that lives on its platform.

KELLY: What about Russia...

SELYUKH: Right.

KELLY: ...And the attempts by Russia to try to influence American voters in the run-up to the 2016 election, try to influence American politics, you know, past the election and right up to this moment right now? What did Zuckerberg say about that?

SELYUKH: So he apologized for being too slow to respond. They have been shutting down some accounts. There was a bit of news sort of on that front, and it had to do with the special counsel Robert Mueller. He said that - he was asked whether some employees - whether he actually was interviewed as part of the Mueller investigation¹³ into Russia and potential meddling¹⁴. And he said he himself was not, but some employees were.

This was a political story for Democrats¹⁵. But Republicans were actually more interested in accusations¹⁶ of a liberal bias¹⁷ on Facebook. Senator Ted⁶ Cruz, Senator Ben Sasse brought up this issue and kind of grilled¹⁸ Zuckerberg on the stories in the 2016 cycle about Facebook employees allegedly suppressing conservative stories. And that was sort of a political point on that end.

KELLY: All right. Quickly, Alina, this was round one.

SELYUKH: Yes.

KELLY: Round two is tomorrow. He'll be on the House side. What are we watching for?

SELYUKH: We are watching for more of the same. And you know what? The shares of Facebook were up today. So if he does it again, Facebook will be breathing a sigh of relief.

KELLY: All right.

SELYUKH: (Laughter).

KELLY: NPR's Alina Selyukh, thank you so much.

SELYUKH: Thank you.

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 grilling   

v.烧烤( grill的现在分词 )；拷问，盘问

参考例句：

• The minister faced a tough grilling at today's press conference. 部长在今天的记者招待会上受到了严厉的盘问。
• He's grilling out there in the midday sun. 他在外面让中午火辣辣的太阳炙烤着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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

4 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

10 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

11 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

12 bristled   

adj. 直立的，多刺毛的 动词bristle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• They bristled at his denigrating description of their activities. 听到他在污蔑他们的活动，他们都怒发冲冠。
• All of us bristled at the lawyer's speech insulting our forefathers. 听到那个律师在讲演中污蔑我们的祖先，大家都气得怒发冲冠。

13 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

14 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

15 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 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。

17 bias   

n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见

参考例句：

• They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
• He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。

18 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。