美国国家公共电台 NPR Trolled Online, Women In Politics Fight To Hold Big Tech Accountable In The U.K.

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

In Europe, unlike in the U.S., governments have been holding the tech companies Google, Facebook and Twitter liable for social media attacks that happen on their platforms. Those governments got tough on tech in part because of the experiences of women in politics.

NPR's Aarti Shahani dug into the backstory in the U.K. And we should note that Google and Facebook are financial contributors to NPR.

AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE¹: Lisa Cameron is a member of the British Parliament. She's also a victim and survivor² of online trolls.

LISA CAMERON: You feel very alone when this happens to you.

SHAHANI: Cameron was new to politics in 2015 when she was elected. She'd been a psychologist, a wife and mom, a trade union rep, the kind of person democracies want to run. But once she entered public life, the sludge of the internet attacked her, not just for her policy stances. It was personal. She says her inbox, Facebook and Twitter accounts filled with rape³ fantasies, anti-Semitic slurs⁴ - she is Jewish - pictures of decapitated bodies, threats to her family.

CAMERON: It makes you question whether you are doing something wrong in your job, whether politics is right for you.

SHAHANI: She wondered if she'd made a mistake, if running was unfair to her family. Then a horrific attack - not against her, but against a female colleague sworn in in the same class - changed the conversation for Cameron and for the U.K.

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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The murder of British MP Jo Cox shocked Britain and the world.

SHAHANI: Jo Cox, member of Parliament, was gunned down and stabbed on the streets by a white supremacist. Prosecutors⁵ said he was radicalized on the internet. His motive⁶ appeared to be policy - he was for Brexit, Cox against - but Cox's colleagues believe her gender⁷ made her a target, too.

The Prime Minister's office reached out to men and women in Parliament to ask if they'd been intimidated⁸ online. The final report didn't set out to spotlight⁹ women in office, but it ended up doing that because they had stories. One reported, quote, "people wish to see me raped¹⁰. They wish to come to find my sons hanging from a tree because I don't care about men." MP Lisa Cameron said it was cathartic¹¹ to speak up.

CAMERON: I had kind of felt at the start that, you know, I must have been doing something wrong until I realized that this is so widespread.

SHAHANI: In another study, a survey of Parliament, male MPs reported being insulted online for job performance more than female MPs did. But women reported far more threats of rape, death and violence to their children and loved ones. Online attacks were affecting real-world behavior. Nearly half of women in Parliament reported making fewer social outings. For men, it was 5%.

CHLOE COLLIVER: There are probably a number of politicians, especially male politicians, who were unaware¹² that that was happening to the extent it was.

SHAHANI: Chloe Colliver is a researcher with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which helps governments study extremism. Colliver says the investigations¹³ didn't lie dormant¹⁴ in a dusty filing cabinet. They caused a sea change. Before, government leaders focused on Islamic extremism. But after, they began to see misogyny and the vitriolic¹⁵ hate of women as a rising organized threat. Female MPs organized in Cox's wake to explore how to keep women interested in politics.

COLLIVER: Her fellow colleagues, who obviously felt very affected¹⁶ by this incident, have themselves joined across parties to try and see action taken on this front.

SHAHANI: The clearest legal impact of this awakening¹⁷ came in a much anticipated blueprint¹⁸ for how to regulate big tech. The government wrote the abuse faced by women in office is unacceptable. The U.K. proposed hefty fines against companies that don't address this harm promptly¹⁹. Chloe Colliver.

COLLIVER: A female MP who has death threats directed at her through an online platform like Facebook or Twitter or YouTube could take that complaint to a regulator if it wasn't removed in a timely manner.

SHAHANI: The U.K. is not troll-free, but women are now empowered in a way they were not just a few years ago. MP Lisa Cameron recently cast a vote against abortion²¹. Pro-choice trolls sent her violent images and threatened to abort²⁰ her. Now she says at least one internet giant is taking responsibility.

CAMERON: If someone is abusive online, I can have that dialogue with Facebook. I know who to go to.

SHAHANI: The company is helping²² her sift²³ through the pile of attacks to ID real threats and refer them to law enforcement. That's a step up from shame, she says, and a step forward for democracy.

Aarti Shahani, NPR News.

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1 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。

2 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

5 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

6 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

8 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

10 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句

11 cathartic   

adj.宣泄情绪的；n.泻剂

参考例句：

• His laughter was cathartic,an animal yelp that brought tears to his eyes.他哈哈大笑以宣泄情绪，声音如野兽般尖厉，眼泪都笑出来了。
• The drug had a cathartic effect.这药有导泻的作用。

12 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

13 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

14 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

15 vitriolic   

adj.硫酸的，尖刻的

参考例句：

• The newspaper launched a vitriolic attack on the president.这家报纸对总统发起了一场恶意的攻击。
• Vitriolic impurity is contained normally in the sewage that vitriolic factory discharges.硫酸厂排放的污水中通常含有硫酸杂质。

16 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。

17 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。

18 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

19 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

20 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

21 abortion   

n.流产，堕胎

参考例句：

• She had an abortion at the women's health clinic.她在妇女保健医院做了流产手术。
• A number of considerations have led her to have a wilful abortion.多种考虑使她执意堕胎。

22 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

23 sift   

v.筛撒，纷落，详察

参考例句：

• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.把小麦的壳筛出来。
• Sift sugar on top of the cake.在蛋糕上面撒上糖。