VOA慢速英语--人权组织敦促社交媒体保存战争罪行的证据

Rights Group Urges Social Media to Save Evidence of War Crimes

A rights group has called on social media companies to save images and video that could be used as evidence to investigate serious crimes.

Companies like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are removing material thought to be offensive or illegal, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. It noted¹ that such material could be presented as evidence at trials for persons accused of war crimes or other charges.

The group said it understands why social media companies see the need to remove some material, including content that supports or incites³ violence. But it is urging the companies to collect and save such material for possible use in criminal cases.

In addition to using human monitors, social media services are increasingly turning to machine learning methods to remove content that violates their policies. Human rights researchers fear that the use of machines, without human intervention⁴, could lead to important evidence being lost or destroyed.

Belkis Wille is a Human Rights Watch researcher and helped prepare the new report. She told VOA that videos and images from social media are often used in many of her group's investigations⁶.

"What we started to notice in the last few years, particularly since 2017, is that we would see a video of let's say soldiers executing someone, or an (Islamic State) propaganda video. If 15 minutes or an hour later we went back to look at a video again, it was suddenly gone," Wille said.

The report noted video evidence collected from social media by the international investigative group Bellingcat. These videos showed a Russian "Buk" ground-to-air missile launcher. International investigators⁷ say the device was used to fire the weapon that brought down Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17. The flight crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014. All 298 people on the airplane were killed.

The Dutch-led Joint⁸ Investigation⁵ Team later presented the videos as evidence. Russia has denied involvement in the incident.

Belkis Wille said that during Bellingcat's investigation, the group went to look for evidence it had found earlier on social media, but the material had been removed.

Governments are putting increasing pressure on online companies to remove offensive, illegal or dangerous material from the internet. Social media companies promised to do more to block extremist content after the live-streaming on Facebook of a terror attack on two Islamic centers in New Zealand in 2019.

Fifty-one people died in the attack.

Social media companies have told Human Rights Watch they are required by law to remove material that could be offensive or incite² terror, violence or hatred⁹.

Wille told VOA that the removal systems are now so effective "that they are taking down content the minute it gets posted. So, no user actually gets to see that content before it comes down."

Syrian Archive is using social media videos to document possible war crimes, including the use of chemical weapons. The rights group has also raised concerns about important evidence being removed from social media before it can be saved and examined.

Wille said that one solution could be the creation of an international registry or archive system for collecting online images and video.

The people responsible for this record-keeping system would decide who should get access to the content, she said. The collected material would be kept for "investigative purposes."

Human Rights Watch says it is in talks with social media companies about creating such an archive.

Words in This Story

content – n. information contained in a piece of writing, a speech, a movie or on the internet

monitor – n. a person whose job it is to watch or notice particular things

notice – v. to see or become aware of something

live-streaming – n. broadcasting content live on the internet

post – v. to publish a piece of information on the internet

access – n. the right or opportunity to use or see something

1 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

2 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

3 incites   

刺激，激励，煽动( incite的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• In all countries any person who incites others to insurrection is guilty of treason. 在任何国家里，煽动他人谋反者，都属犯叛国罪。
• The success of the handicapped man incites us to pursue our dreams. 这位残疾人的成功激励我们追求自己的梦想。

4 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

5 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。

6 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

7 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。