
一个组织在周末期间举办了近3000场活动,吸引了数万名参与者,他们的共同目标是让选民为下个月的中期选举做好准备。“No Kings”这一组织在全国范围内展开了行动,帮助人们核实自己的选民登记信息、了解自己的投票权利,并制定投票计划。然而,在这场全国性的宣传活动进行到一半时,该组织表示其主要的Instagram账号在关键时刻被暂停使用了。
One group organized nearly 3,000 events over the weekend with tens of thousands of attendees and one big goal: getting voters ready for next month’s midterms. “No Kings” mobilized across the country, helping people check their voter registration, understand their voting rights and make a plan to cast their ballots. But in the middle of that nationwide push, the movement says its main Instagram account was suspended at a critical moment.
据《新闻周刊》报道,该账号停用了大约90分钟;活动组织者表示,在此之后的数小时内他们仍无法使用该账号的管理员工具,因此完全无法与支持者进行沟通。Meta公司对此表示歉意,称账号被暂停是由于自动化系统检测到该账号的活动量过大而引发的误操作。但活动组织者埃兹拉·莱文(Ezra Levin)并不相信这只是一个简单的技术故障:“这让人联想到我们在巴西看到的情况,”他说,“就在本周,巴西的一家法院裁定Meta公司偏袒该国的独裁政权;现在我们可能也在自己的国家看到类似的情况。”
According to Newsweek, the account was down for roughly 90 minutes, and organizers say they remained locked out of the account’s administrative tools for hours afterward, so they couldn’t post, completely limiting their ability to communicate with supporters. Meta apologized, saying the suspension happened by mistake after an automated system flagged the account’s high volume of activity. But organizer Ezra Levin isn’t convinced this is simply a story about a computer making a mistake. “This is strikingly reminiscent of what we saw in Brazil.” he said. “Just this week, a court ruled against Meta for favoring the authoritarians in that country and we might be seeing something similar from Meta in our country right now.”
需要说明的是,巴西将于10月25日举行总统选举的决选投票,现任总统卢拉·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦(Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva)将与右翼候选人弗拉维奥·博索纳罗(Flávio Bolsonaro)展开对决。卢拉的竞选团队指责Meta公司(该公司拥有Instagram、Facebook和WhatsApp)不公平地限制了与政治相关的内容的传播,从而给了博索纳罗的竞选团队优势。
So, for context, Brazil is heading into an Oct. 25 presidential runoff between left-wing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing challenger Flávio Bolsonaro. Lula’s campaign accused Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, of unfairly restricting its political content while giving Bolsonaro’s campaign an advantage. One concern involved Meta’s AI tools.
其中一个令人担忧的问题是Meta公司使用的人工智能工具——巴西的非营利组织CTRL + Z报告称,有超过1000起针对支持卢拉内容的案例,这些案例涉及内容曝光度降低、账号被封禁或选举内容被审查的情况。巴西最高选举法院命令Meta公司在其所有平台上对所有候选人一视同仁地对待;法院一致通过了这一裁决,并对违规行为处以高额罚款。
A Brazilian nonprofit named CTRL + Z reported over 1,000 cases of reduced visibility, account bans, or electoral censorship disproportionately affecting pro-Lula content. Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court ordered Meta to ensure equal treatment of the candidates across its platforms. The court upheld that order unanimously, with a hefty fine for violations.
在巴西事件中,Meta 再次否认存在有意的政治偏见,并指出是技术问题以及其选举相关的防护措施。这对一家控制着数百万人获取政治信息平台的私营公司来说是非常便利的回应。 “无王”运动的全部意义在于显示特朗普第二任期将过多权力集中于总统府,削弱了民主规范。其组织者现在正试图将这种反对情绪转化为选票。
In the Brazil incident, Meta again denied intentional political bias and pointed to technical issues and its election-related safeguards. That’s a very convenient response for a private company that controls platforms that millions of people rely on for political information. The whole point of the No Kings movement is showing that President Trump’s second administration has concentrated too much power in the presidency, undermining democratic norms. Its organizers are now trying to turn that opposition into votes.
“无王”听起来像是一个戏剧性的标题,但特朗普的行为表现出不受约束的行政越权。华盛顿邮报、ABC 新闻和益普索联合进行的一项民调显示,66% 的美国人认为特朗普在利用总统职位为自己牟利。无论是忽视《宪法》中的薪酬条款、在积累数百万加密货币的同时解散加密货币执法团队,还是接受外国国家的奢华礼物,这些都存在问题。
“No Kings” may sound like a dramatic title, but Trump is has behaved in a way that exhibits unchecked executive overreach. A new Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll found that 66 percent of Americans say Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself. Whether it’s ignoring the emoluments clause, dissolving cryptocurrency enforcement teams while accumulating millions with his cryptocurrency, or taking lavish gifts from foreign countries, it’s all problematic.
因此,无论我们讨论的是巴西还是美国,问题都不仅仅是一个 Instagram 账户或一个算法,而是关于透明度、问责制以及塑造政治对话的数字平台是否公平执行其规则。
So, whether we’re talking about Brazil or the United States, the issue is bigger than one Instagram account or one algorithm. It’s about transparency, accountability and whether the digital platforms shaping political conversations are applying their rules fairly.
林赛·格兰杰是 NewsNation 的撰稿人,也是《国会山报》评论节目《Rising》的联合主持人。本专栏为她在节目中的评论的编辑稿。
Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.”This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.