【新闻精讲】

The Mark of the social beast
社交巨兽的污点

Fake news items are not the only problem facing the social network
虚假新闻并非社交网络面临的唯一问题

“MARK ZUCKERBERG, dead at 32, denies Facebook has problem with fake news.” The satirical headline, which made the rounds online this week, nicely encapsulates the most recent woes of the world’s largest social network: its algorithms, critics say, filled users’ newsfeeds with misinformation—and in the process influenced the American election result. But this is not the only problem the firm is grappling with. A volatile share price, privacy policies and advertising metrics have also kept Mr Zuckerberg busy.
“马克•扎克伯格去世，享年32岁。他否认Facebook存在假新闻这一问题。”上月这条在网络上广为流传的新闻头条颇具讽刺意味，却也确切概括了这家世界上最大的社交媒体近期所遇到的麻烦：有批评者指出，其算法令用户的新闻推送中充斥虚假信息，甚至还影响了美国大选结果。但这并不是公司唯一正忙于应对的问题。让扎克伯格（见图）焦头烂额的还有公司波动的股价、隐私政策以及广告效果的评估。

Satirical adj.讽刺的
Encapsulate adj.概括(summarize)
Woe n.苦恼 ( problem/trouble)
Algorithm n.算法
Grapple v.搏斗
- grapple with 解决问题
Volatile adj.不稳定的
- the market/woman is volatile

“News” that the Pope had endorsed Donald Trump or that a pizzeria in Washington, DC, is the home base of a child-abuse ring led by Hillary Clinton, were not confined to Facebook (nor were fake stories only a right-wing phenomenon). They often originate elsewhere, for instance on fake-news websites in Macedonia, which make good money via online ads, and on Twitter. But Facebook’s algorithms give prominence to such misinformation. They are tuned to maximise “engagement”, meaning they present users with the type of content that has already piqued their interest, as outrageous headlines tend to do.

“教皇支持特朗普”，“希拉里领导着一个虐童组织，大本营在华盛顿特区一家披萨店”——这类“新闻”其实并非Facebook独有（不实的传言也并非只是一种右翼现象）。它们的源头往往都在别处，例如位于马其顿的一个假新闻网站（这种网站通过在线广告赚取大把钞票），或者是推特。但Facebook的算法会优先显示这类虚假信息。其算法要实现的是“参与度”最大化，这就意味着算法向用户提供的内容就是之前已勾起他们兴趣的那类——正如耸人听闻的新闻头条常常会做的那样。

ring n.非法组织
Confine v.局限于 （limit）
Prominence n. 显著地位
- prominent position
Tune v.调整
Pique v. 激起（好奇心，兴趣，愤怒）
- pique n.愤怒
Outrageous adj.令人愤怒的
- outrageous behavior