原文標(biāo)題：
Social media
A $44bn education
What running Twitter has taught Elon Musk about free speech
社交媒體
價(jià)值440億美元的教訓(xùn)
埃隆·馬斯克通過(guò)經(jīng)營(yíng)推特學(xué)會(huì)了什么是言論自由
?
He has had a crash course in the?trade-offs?in protecting free expression
他上了一堂關(guān)于保護(hù)言論自由與權(quán)衡問(wèn)題的速成課

[Paragraph 1]
ELON MUSK’s two months running Twitter has been an unhappy experiment.
埃隆·馬斯克經(jīng)營(yíng)了推特兩個(gè)月，但結(jié)果不太愉快。
?
The social network’s 250m users have endured a wearying saga in which Mr Musk is the central character.
推特2.5億用戶(hù)已經(jīng)厭煩了一連串以馬斯克為主角的事件。

?
Advertisers have fled.
廣告商也紛紛逃離。
?
Twitter, which lost $221m in 2021, is now on track to lose $4bn a year, by one estimate.
據(jù)悉，推特在2021年虧損了2.21億美元，今年估計(jì)要虧損40億美元。
?
The damage has spread to Tesla, Mr Musk’s carmaker, part of the reason it has lost half a trillion dollars in market value since early September, costing Mr Musk the title of the world’s richest man.
損失已經(jīng)牽涉到了馬斯克名下的汽車(chē)制造產(chǎn)業(yè)特斯拉。這也是該公司自9月初以來(lái)市值蒸發(fā)5000億美元的部分原因，馬斯克也因此失去了世界首富的頭銜。
?

[Paragraph 2]
On December 19th it looked as if Mr Musk might throw in the towel, after Twitter users voted for him to step down as chief executive.
12月19日，推特用戶(hù)投票希望他卸任首席執(zhí)行官，馬斯克似乎也想放棄了。
?
It has been a costly?adventure.
這是一次代價(jià)高昂的嘗試。
?
But in one sense his turbulent?stewardship?of the social network has done the rest of the world a favour.
但在某種意義上，他對(duì)推特的混亂管理方式為世界其他地區(qū)帶來(lái)了好處。
?
In two short months Mr Musk has been through a public crash course in the principles of free speech, neatly demonstrating the trade-offs involved in protecting expression online.
在短短兩個(gè)月的時(shí)間里，馬斯克上了一堂關(guān)于言論自由的速成課，生動(dòng)地詮釋了保護(hù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)言論所涉及的權(quán)衡問(wèn)題。
?
[Paragraph 3]
From the outside, Twitter seemed simple to someone whose day job was building self-driving cars and space rockets.
從表面上看，對(duì)于一個(gè)日常工作是制造自動(dòng)駕駛汽車(chē)和太空火箭的馬斯克，運(yùn)營(yíng)推特似乎十分簡(jiǎn)單。
?
Mr Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist”, had grown concerned (with some justification) that Twitter had been captured by censorious?left-wing scolds.
自詡為“言論自由絕對(duì)主義者”的馬斯克越來(lái)越擔(dān)心推特已經(jīng)被吹毛求疵的左翼言論攻擊者利用了，雖然這也有一定根據(jù)。
?
Shortly after agreeing to buy the platform he explained his approach to moderation: “By ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law.”
在同意收購(gòu)該平臺(tái)后不久，他解釋了自己的審核方式:“所謂‘言論自由’，我只是指那些符合法律的言論?！?br>?
[Paragraph 4]
In practice he has found that the right to speech conflicts with?other rights.
在實(shí)踐中，他發(fā)現(xiàn)言論權(quán)與其他權(quán)利存在沖突。
?
One is safety.
其一是安全權(quán)。
?
Last month Mr Musk said that his commitment?to free speech meant he would not ban a Twitter account that tweeted the whereabouts of his private jet, even though he considered this a security risk.
上個(gè)月，馬斯克表示，他對(duì)言論自由的承諾意味著，他不會(huì)禁言一個(gè)發(fā)布他私人飛機(jī)位置的推特賬戶(hù)，盡管這是一種安全風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。
?
But on December 14th he changed his mind after a “stalker” bothered his son.
但在12月14日，在一個(gè)“跟蹤狂”騷擾了他的兒子之后，他改變了想法。
?
After suspending the jet account, Twitter introduced rules outlawing the reporting of others’ real-time locations.
在封鎖該賬戶(hù)后，Twitter出臺(tái)了規(guī)定，禁止報(bào)告他人的實(shí)時(shí)位置。
?
[Paragraph 5]
As well as limiting speech in the name of safety, Mr Musk has curtailed it to avoid the lesser sin of causing offence.
除了以安全的名義限制言論外，馬斯克還限制了冒犯他人的言論。
?
In October the number of views of tweets that Twitter deems “hate speech” doubled, as users tested the limits of Mr Musk’s new regime.
去年10月，推特認(rèn)定的“仇恨言論”的推文點(diǎn)擊量翻了一番，用戶(hù)們?cè)谔魬?zhàn)馬斯克新制度的極限。
?
Rather than allow this legal-but-nasty content, Twitter cracked down.
推特沒(méi)有允許這種合法但令人厭惡的內(nèi)容，相反采取了嚴(yán)厲打擊措施。
?
In November hateful tweets recorded one-third fewer views than before the takeover.
11月，仇恨相關(guān)推文的瀏覽量比收購(gòu)前減少了三分之一。
?
Earlier this month Twitter suspended the account of Ye, a rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after he posted a picture of a swastika within a Star of David—an image that, however grotesque, is nonetheless permitted by America’s laws.
本月早些時(shí)候，推特禁封了Ye的賬戶(hù)，他是一位說(shuō)唱歌手，原名Kanye West，起因是他在推特上發(fā)布了一張猶太星內(nèi)有納粹萬(wàn)字符號(hào)的照片。盡管這種圖像很怪異，但在美國(guó)法律是允許的。
?
[Paragraph 6]
Mr Musk even limited speech when it was bad for profits.
當(dāng)出現(xiàn)不利于推特利益的言論時(shí)，馬斯克也采取了限制措施。
?
After pranksters sent tweets aping brands like Pepsi (“Coke is better”) and Nestlé (“We steal your water and sell it back to you lol”), Twitter outlawed such behaviour to stop advertisers fleeing.
惡作劇者在推特上模仿百事可樂(lè)，但卻稱(chēng)贊“可口可樂(lè)更好”。惡搞雀巢，稱(chēng)“我們偷了你的水，然后再賣(mài)給你，哈哈”。很多品牌都沒(méi)能幸免這種惡作劇。在此之后，推特禁止了此類(lèi)行為，希望不會(huì)損失太多廣告商。
?
Then, to stem an exodus of users, on December 18th Twitter said it would ban people from linking to rival social networks or posting their usernames.
為阻止大量用戶(hù)流失，推特在12月18日表示，它將禁止用戶(hù)推廣競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手的社交軟件或發(fā)布他們的用戶(hù)名。
?
When questions were raised as to whether regulators would consider such a move?anticompetitive, Mr Musk apologised and free speech was restored.
當(dāng)有人質(zhì)疑監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)是否會(huì)認(rèn)為此舉是反競(jìng)爭(zhēng)行為時(shí)，馬斯克進(jìn)行了道歉并恢復(fù)了相關(guān)賬戶(hù)的言論自由。?
[Paragraph 7]
All this holds two lessons for whoever follows Mr Musk as Twitter’s boss, should he leave.
如果馬斯克離開(kāi)，或許能為他的推特繼任者提供了兩條經(jīng)驗(yàn)。
?
One is to keep content moderation?at arm’s length.
一與內(nèi)容審核保持一定距離。
?
The person deciding whether a post is acceptable is compromised if they are also responsible for boosting engagement?among users and spending by advertisers.
如果審核帖子的人還兼職負(fù)責(zé)提高用戶(hù)的參與度和廣告商的支出，那他將深受其害。
?
Mark Zuckerberg (whose reputation has risen in light of Mr Musk’s pratfalls) realised this and outsourced Facebook’s biggest moderation headaches to an independent?“oversight board” in 2020.
馬克·扎克伯格（因馬斯克的神壇跌落而名氣上升），他很早就意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)并在2020年將臉書(shū)最令人頭疼的審核問(wèn)題外包給了一個(gè)獨(dú)立的“監(jiān)督委員會(huì)”。
?
[Paragraph 8]
The second lesson is that moderation has no clean solutions, even for “technokings” with strong views on free speech.
第二個(gè)教訓(xùn)是，審核問(wèn)題沒(méi)有最優(yōu)解，即使是強(qiáng)烈支持言論自由的“技術(shù)巨頭”也是如此。
?
Free expression is not a problem with a solution bounded by the laws of physics that can be hacked together if only enough coders pull an all-nighter.
言論自由并不是一個(gè)根據(jù)物理定律就可以找到解決方法的問(wèn)題。因?yàn)榻鉀Q物理定律問(wèn)題，只要有足夠多的程序員通宵工作就行（言論問(wèn)題則不可以）。
?
It is a dilemma requiring messy trade-offs that leave no one happy.
這是一個(gè)混亂的權(quán)衡困境，無(wú)人能從中受益。
?
In such a business, humility and transparency?count for a lot.
在這個(gè)行業(yè)，謙遜和透明至關(guān)重要。
?
[Paragraph 9]
These are novel concepts to some in Silicon Valley, who are impatient to tear up the established ways of doing things.
對(duì)于硅谷的一些人來(lái)說(shuō)，這些都是新奇的概念，他們迫不及待地要打破既定的做事方式。
?
But just as cryptocurrency enthusiasts have recently received a bracing lesson in the value of boring old financial prudence, so Mr Musk and his fellow free-speech enthusiasts are learning why free expression has caused many to scratch their heads over the centuries.
但就像加密貨幣愛(ài)好者最近收到的教訓(xùn)一樣（由于他們厭倦了傳統(tǒng)的財(cái)政穩(wěn)健政策，嘗試加密貨幣而血虧），馬斯克先生和他的自由言論愛(ài)好者們也收到一個(gè)教訓(xùn)，即為什么幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，許多人都對(duì)言論自由問(wèn)題束手無(wú)策。
?
Tech valuationshave suffered a sharp correction in 2022.
科技公司的估值在2022年經(jīng)歷了大幅調(diào)整。
?
It has also been a chastening?year for tech egos.
這也是令科技狂人備受打擊的一年。
?
（恭喜讀完，本篇英語(yǔ)詞匯量731左右）
原文出自：2022年12月24日《The Economist》Leaders版塊。
精讀筆記來(lái)源于：自由英語(yǔ)之路

本文翻譯整理: Maree 本文編輯校對(duì): Irene
僅供個(gè)人英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補(bǔ)充資料】（來(lái)自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
當(dāng)?shù)貢r(shí)間2022年12月12日，據(jù)《福布斯》富豪榜最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，埃隆·馬斯克已不是世界首富。
?
大衛(wèi)星（即六芒星，又名大衛(wèi)之盾、所羅門(mén)封印、猶太星），是猶太教和猶太文化的標(biāo)志。以色列建國(guó)后將大衛(wèi)星放在以色列國(guó)旗上，因此大衛(wèi)星也成為了以色列的象征。
?
【重點(diǎn)句子】（3?個(gè)）
In two short months Mr Musk has been through a public crash course in the principles of free speech, neatly demonstrating the trade-offs involved in protecting expression online.
在短短兩個(gè)月的時(shí)間里，馬斯克上了一堂關(guān)于言論自由的速成課，生動(dòng)地詮釋了保護(hù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)言論所涉及的權(quán)衡問(wèn)題。
?
In practice he has found that the right to speech conflicts with other rights.
在實(shí)踐中，他發(fā)現(xiàn)言論權(quán)與其他權(quán)利存在沖突。
?
Free expression is not a problem with a solution bounded by the laws of physics that can be hacked together if only enough coders pull an all-nighter.
言論自由并不是一個(gè)根據(jù)物理定律就可以找到解決方法的問(wèn)題。因?yàn)榻鉀Q物理定律問(wèn)題，只要有足夠多的程序員通宵工作就行（言論問(wèn)題則不可以）。