美国有线新闻 CNN Facebook在美遭遇两起大规模反垄断诉讼 面临被拆分风险(在线收听

Facebook is facing two lawsuits. One is from the U.S. Federal government. The other is from 46 U.S. states. Both suits accuse the social media company of trying to keep competition out of the digital marketplace. More than 3 billion people of the 7.7 billion who are alive today use an app owned by Facebook. The company is more than a social networking site. It also controls WhatsApp and Instagram. And the U.S. government says that Facebook bought these apps to prevent them from eventually competing with the company.

脸谱网现在面临两起诉讼。一起来自美国联邦政府。另一起来自美国46个州。两起诉讼都指控这家社交媒体公司试图将竞争排除在数字市场之外。目前全球人口为77亿,其中超过30亿人使用脸谱网旗下的应用程序。这家公司不仅仅是社交网站。其还控制着WhatsApp和Instagram两个应用。美国政府表示,脸谱网收购这些应用是为了防止它们最终与其竞争。

The suits say this breaks America's anti-trust laws which are designed to keep the nation's businesses from having too much power. And both legal challenges seek to decrease Facebook's power by forcing it to spin-off Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. It says the U.S. government approves those purchases then and that it now wants a do over. The social media company also says people don't chose Facebook's services because they have to but because its apps deliver the most value. So, it plans to fight these suits. Facebook isn't the only technology company accused of breaking anti- trust laws.

诉讼称,这违反了美国反垄断法,这些法律旨在防止美国企业拥有过多权力。这两项法律挑战都试图通过迫使脸谱网将Instagram和WhatsApp分拆成不同的公司来削弱脸谱网的权力。脸谱网在2012年收购了Instagram,2014年收购了WhatsApp。该公司称,美国政府当时批准了这些收购计划,但现在想反悔。这家社交媒体公司还表示,人们之所以选择脸谱网的服务,并不是因为他们必须这样做,而是因为脸谱网的应用程序提供的服务最有价值。因此,该公司计划对抗这些诉讼。脸谱网并不是唯一一家被指控违反反垄断法的科技公司。

The American government and 11 states filed suit against Google in October saying it's worked to prevent competition in online searches and advertising. Google had a similar response to Facebook's. It says people use its platform because they choose too not because they're forced to.

美国政府和11个州于10月对谷歌提起诉讼,称谷歌试图阻止在线搜索和广告领域的竞争。谷歌的反应与脸谱网类似。该公司称人们使用其平台是因为他们选择这样做,而不是迫不得已。

These lawsuits could take years to resolve. European officials have also been concerned about U.S. tech companies. Next week they're expected to put new rules in place that are designed to limit the power of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon.

这些诉讼可能需要数年时间才能解决。欧洲官员也对美国科技公司感到担忧。预计他们将在下周出台限制脸谱网、谷歌、苹果和亚马逊的新规。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/cnn2020/12/519514.html