美国国家公共电台 NPR How Russian Propaganda Spreads On Social Media

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Silicon¹ Valley goes to Washington this week. Officials from Facebook, Google and Twitter appear before Congress to talk about their social platforms and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. NPR will be bringing you stories on this all week this morning to kick things off. NPR's Laura Sydell reports on social media that was created to cause divisions in the United States linked to Russia.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE²: The first thing to know about Russian propaganda is that it doesn't say it's Russian propaganda. It might simply be a social media post, a tweet or a Facebook page about a topic that you find interesting. M'tep Blount is a supporter of Black Lives Matter. One day, she saw a group page that might have been affiliated³ with the movement. It was called Blacktivist.

M'TEP BLOUNT: It was on my news feed. It was, oh, you have a friend who's a part of this group. And I was like, all right. I'll look into it. It definitely had a big following...

SYDELL: ...As in over 400,000 followers⁴ in late August. The Blacktivist page was sharing information about police brutality⁵. And videos often appeared on the page of police beating African-Americans in small towns.

BLOUNT: It was like, wow. This is happening in this community, too. I really hope they do something about it. But they probably aren't going to do.

SYDELL: As it turns out, the Blacktivist page was linked to Russia. And Facebook took it down. It doesn't seem as if the Blacktivist group was trying to change Blount's mind about anything. And it was carefully crafted to attract people like Blount whose behavior on Facebook made it clear that they mistrusted police and were concerned about civil rights.

JEFF HANCOCK: Propaganda can actually have a real effect. Even though we might already believe what we're hearing, this can heighten our arousal or our emotions.

SYDELL: Jeff Hancock is a psychologist who heads the Stanford University Social Media Lab. Hancock has studied the ways people are affected⁶ by seeing information that confirms their beliefs. In his study, he asked people how they felt about an issue before showing them stories. So he says if someone thought Hillary Clinton was corrupt⁷, he showed posts confirming it. If people were worried about police brutality, he showed them posts of police brutalizing civilians⁸.

HANCOCK: If I'm worried about police brutality then, you know, the more times I'm exposed to that, the stronger it makes me feel about it.

SYDELL: Hancock says this kind of propaganda is designed to enhance divisions...

HANCOCK: ...And by doing that, reduce the will to vote. The anger within each other - it really truly is just a simple divide-and-conquer approach.

SYDELL: It's an approach that Russia has frequently used around the world, says former Russian Ambassador Michael McFaul.

MICHAEL MCFAUL: They think that that leads to polarization, that leads to arguments among ourselves. And it takes us off the world stage.

SYDELL: The Russian campaign spread across all forms of social media. Take a Twitter account like @TEN_GOP, which had more than 100,000 followers. It called itself the unofficial account of the Tennessee Republican Party. But it wasn't. It was reportedly set up from Russia. The account, which has been shut down, sent out a stream of fake news such as a tweet falsely stating that there was voter fraud in Florida. The fake news got plenty of amplification⁹. There's no evidence that President Trump¹⁰ or his supporters knew about the accounts linked to Russia. Still, it was retweeted by Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trump Jr. And then Trump himself thanked the account for its support. Clint Watts¹², a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, has been investigating Russian use of social media.

CLINT WATTS: It has been retweeted, cited many, many times by people in the Trump campaign or Republican operatives and even in the mainstream¹³ media. And so that shows how just one account with just a lot of effort can actually influence the discussion and be cited in the debate.

SYDELL: Watt¹¹ says this kind of media propaganda campaign is not exclusive to the Russians. This is simply how it works in the digital age. After every major news event, the social-media sphere starts filling up with conspiracy¹⁴ theories and fake news. Under pressure from Congress, Facebook has handed over a $100,000 ad campaign with 3,000 ads by Russians to Congress. It's promised more transparency about who is behind advertising¹⁵ campaigns. Twitter says it will no longer take ad money from two Russian media outlets¹⁶. And there's still a lot we don't know about the use of digital platforms. But we may have a chance to learn more when Twitter, Facebook and Google sit down to answer questions in front of Congress later this week. Laura Sydell, NPR News.

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1 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

4 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

5 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

8 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

9 amplification   

n.扩大，发挥

参考例句：

• The voice of despair may be weak and need amplification.绝望的呼声可能很微弱，需要扩大。
• Some of them require further amplification.其中有些内容需进一步详细阐明。

10 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

11 watt   

n.瓦，瓦特

参考例句：

• The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
• The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。

12 watts   

（电力计量单位）瓦，瓦特( watt的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• My lamp uses 60 watts; my toaster uses 600 watts. 我的灯用60瓦，我的烤面包器用600瓦。
• My lamp uses 40 watts. 我的灯40瓦。

13 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

14 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

15 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

16 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》