美国国家公共电台 NPR 遭FTC和48个州联合起诉 Facebook或面临拆分命运（在线收听）

For years, Facebook has become bigger and more powerful, buying other tech companies along the way. And today, the social media giant got hit with a one-two punch — first, a lawsuit from 48 attorneys general across the country and then another lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission. Both say Facebook has gone too far. NPR tech correspondent Shannon Bond joins us.

多年来，脸谱网日益壮大，一路走来收购了多家科技公司。今天，这家社交媒体巨头遭到“组合拳”打击——先是美国48名检察官的诉讼，然后是美国联邦贸易委员会的另一桩诉讼。他们均称脸谱网做得太过了。NPR新闻的技术记者香农·邦德将和我们连线。

And we need to mention that Facebook is a financial supporter of NPR.

我们需要指出，脸谱网是NPR新闻的金融支持者。

Hi, Shannon.

你好，香农。

SHANNON BOND, BYLINE: Hi, Ari.

香农·邦德连线：你好，阿里。

SHAPIRO: Walk us through the argument that these lawsuits are making.

夏皮罗：请介绍一下这些诉讼的论点。

BOND: Sure. So the FTC and these states have been investigating Facebook together, and the core accusation is the same in both suits. Here's what New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the state's investigation, said at a press conference today.

邦德：好。美国联邦贸易委员会和这些州一直在联合调查脸谱网，两起诉讼的核心指控是相同的。以下是领导纽约州调查的纽约州总检察长莱蒂娅·詹姆斯今天在记者会上所说。

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

（记者会录音）

LETITIA JAMES: For nearly a decade, Facebook has used its dominance and monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.

莱蒂娅·詹姆斯：近10年来，脸谱网一直在利用自己的主导地位和垄断势力，打压较小的竞争对手，扼杀竞争，这一切都是以牺牲普通用户为代价的。

BOND: So James described this strategy at Facebook of crushing the competition by buying or burying. So in the first case, you know, she says, Facebook spends huge amounts of money to buy companies that it sees as potential rivals. And the key companies at issue here are Instagram, which Facebook bought in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it bought a few years later. And those deals, you know, they really helped Facebook gain users, especially on smartphones, and become even more powerful. You know, today, more than 2 billion people use its apps every day.

邦德：詹姆斯称脸谱网通过收购或“埋葬”的策略来击败竞争对手。她表示，在第一种情况下，脸谱网斥巨资收购被其视为潜在竞争对手的公司。这方面存在争议的主要公司是脸谱网在2012年收购的Instagram和几年后收购的WhatsApp。这些交易确实帮助脸谱网赢得了用户，尤其是智能手机用户，而且也使其变得更加强大。如今，每天有超过20亿人使用其应用程序。

SHAPIRO: So that's the buy part of the equation. What about the bury? How does James say Facebook crushed competitors?

BOND: Right. So for companies that rebuffed Facebook's offers to do a deal or that it didn't want to buy, prosecutors say Facebook lured them in — lured their developers in — with promises they could plug into its systems and access its data. And then they allege if those companies look like they might be a competitive threat, Facebook would pull the plug.

So as an example, you might remember Vine, the short video app. It was really popular. You could look on there and find your Facebook friends in the app until Facebook cut off that access. And what, you know, James and the FTC allege is that this buy or bury strategy, it not only harmed competitors, it also actually hurt social media users because they have less choice over what social networks to use.

夏皮罗：这是收购的部分。那“埋葬”呢？在脸谱网打压竞争对手方面，詹姆斯怎么说？

邦德：好。检察官表示，对于那些拒绝脸谱网交易要约或其不想收购的公司，脸谱网会承诺他们可以接入其系统并访问其数据，以此来引诱开发者。之后，脸谱网称，如果这些公司看起来像是竞争威胁，脸谱网就会关闭他们的访问入口。

举例来说，你可能还记得短视频应用程序Vine。这款应用相当受欢迎。人们原先可以在上面找到脸谱网好友，但后来脸谱网中断了该应用的访问。詹姆斯和联邦贸易委员会称，这种“收购或埋葬”的策略，不仅损害了竞争对手，也损害了社交媒体用户，因为他们对使用何种社交网络的选择较少。

SHAPIRO: So what are these lawsuits seeking? I mean, how do they propose to dismantle this, if that's actually what they want?

夏皮罗：那这些诉讼的目的是什么？如果他们真的想进行拆分，那他们打算怎么做？

BOND: Well, among other things, both lawsuits have a really big ask. They're basically asking the courts to look at breaking up Facebook, forcing it to undo these purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp, which, of course, are its crown jewels. And you know, that's a really big ask. The attorney generals' suit also asked the court to block Facebook from making any new deals worth more than $10 million while this case is going on. And, you know, $10 million sounds like a lot of money, but that's not necessarily a lot for a tech company. So that could basically stop Facebook from buying almost, you know, anything that it might have its eye on while this is all happening.

邦德：其他的暂且不说，这两起诉讼都有非常大的诉求。基本上来说，他们要求法院考虑拆分脸谱网，并迫使其撤销对Instagram和WhatsApp的收购，当然，这两款应用是脸谱网“皇冠上的宝石”。这是一个非常大的诉求。各州总检察长提起的诉讼还要求法院在本案调查期间阻止脸谱网进行任何价值超过1000万美元的新交易。1000万美元听起来是一大笔钱，但对于一家科技公司来说，不一定如此。因此，这基本上可以阻止脸谱网在诉讼期间收购其可能关注的任何公司。

SHAPIRO: Now, Facebook has been under this kind of criticism from Congress for a while, although these lawsuits are new. How does Facebook respond to to these critiques?

夏皮罗：脸谱网遭受国会的这种指责已经有一段时间了，尽管这些诉讼是新提起的。脸谱网对这些指责作何回应？

BOND: That's right. Well, Facebook says, you know, look, the FTC had a chance to raise concerns over the purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp back when they happened years ago, and it didn't do it. So Facebook is accusing the government of asking for a do-over. It says that's just not fair. It also says, you know, that Instagram and WhatsApp are so successful in large part because Facebook bought them and invested in them. And it says it's unfair to try to punish them for that success.

邦德：没错。脸谱网表示，你看，美国联邦贸易委员会早在几年前就有机会对Instagram和WhatsApp的收购案提出担忧，但当时该机构并未这样做。因此，脸谱网指责政府想推倒重来。该公司认为这不公平。脸谱网还称，Instagram和WhatsApp之所以如此成功，很大程度上是因为脸谱网收购了它们并进行了投资。该公司说，因为这种成功而惩罚他们是不公平的。

You know, Facebook also has pointed repeatedly to other competition it faces in social media. It says it's not the only player. Look at TikTok, which has gained lots of users. But you know, Ari, four years, these biggest tech companies, you know, they didn't receive a lot of scrutiny or regulation. That is really starting to change. Just in October, the U.S. Justice Department sued Google, alleging anti-competitive behaviour.

另外，脸谱网一再指出其在社交媒体领域面临的其他竞争。该公司说，其不是唯一的参与者。看看抖音，这款应用已经收获了很多用户。但是，阿里，四年来，这些最大的科技公司并未受到太多审查和监管。现在，这种情况已经开始改变。就在今年10月，美国司法部起诉了谷歌，指控其存在违反竞争行为。

SHAPIRO: That's NPR tech correspondent Shannon Bond. Thank you.

夏皮罗：以上是NPR新闻的科技记者香农·邦德带来的报道。谢谢你。

BOND: Thank you.

邦德：谢谢你。