蔣建平

體裁 議論文 文章詞數(shù) 374 建議用時(shí) 7 min

難詞探意

1. consensus /k?n?sens?s/? n. 一致的意見(jiàn);共識(shí)

2. unilaterally /?ju?n??l?tr?li/? adv. 單方面地;單邊地

3. regime /re???i?m/? n. 政權(quán);政體

4. legislation /?led??s?le??n/? n. 法律;立法

5. sanction /?s?k?n/? n. 制裁;處罰

Social media companies should no longer be left to monitor and remove harmful content themselves， but should be regulated by an independent body， recommends a new paper following the Christchurch terror attack.

A report from the Helen Clark Foundation is calling on an independent regulatory body to be created to oversee the regulation of social media companies.

The reports co?author Katherine Errington told Newsroom that the consensus about regulating tech companies had shifted from not wanting to regulate at all to making sure that the regulation was done well. She said some countries like Singapore had created an environment where governments were in the position of deciding “what is true”. Singapores fake news laws allow the government to unilaterally remove content which it deems to be untrue. Critics argue this allows the government to get rid of free speech.

Errington said that， by contrast， she wanted to propose “a democratic model”. Her paper proposes an independent regulatory body along the lines of the New Zealand Media Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority. This would replace the current regime in which social media companies are largely left to self?regulate how they monitor and remove harmful content. She said the regulator needs to be comprised of a range of voices including those of government and public interest groups. Errington is calling for the Law Commission to review regulation of social media to close some of the holes in the legislation.

Another issue is how to appropriately punish social media companies who break the rules. Errington said sanctions tend to fit into three broad categories： financial punishment， individual liability of executives， and the disruption of media companies business.

In all cases， the trend overseas has been for increasingly severe sanctions on social media companies. However， they have also highlighted the need for social media companies to act quickly to take harmful content off their platforms， recognising that content left online for longer becomes exponentially more difficult to remove.

In any case Errington sees the fact that the debate has moved from whether action should be taken to what form that action should be taken as a positive thing. New Zealanders will get their first look at the governments response this week when the “Christchurch Call” is unveiled in Paris.

Reading Check

1. What does the new paper following the Christchurch terror attack argue？

2. How did peoples consensus about regulating tech companies change according to Katherine Errington？

3. Why can we say that Singapore is strict in regulating social media？

4. Who plays a leading role in controlling harmful content according to paragraph 4？

5. How many categories of sanctions are applied to punish illegal social media companies？

Language Study

Difficult sentence

However， they have also highlighted the need for social media companies to act quickly to take harmful content off their platforms， recognising that content left online for longer becomes exponentially more difficult to remove.

【翻譯】

【點(diǎn)石成金】句中的have highlighted為謂語(yǔ)部分，the need為賓語(yǔ)，for social media companies to act

quickly to take harmful content off their platforms為動(dòng)詞不定式的復(fù)合結(jié)構(gòu)作后置定語(yǔ)。recognising that...to remove在句中作伴隨狀語(yǔ)，that引導(dǎo)的句子作及物動(dòng)詞recognise的賓語(yǔ)從句;content left online...to remove是一個(gè)“主語(yǔ)+系動(dòng)詞+adj.+to do”句型，在此句型中，當(dāng)主語(yǔ)與不定式構(gòu)成動(dòng)賓關(guān)系時(shí)，動(dòng)詞不定式常用主動(dòng)形式表達(dá)被動(dòng)含義。