谷歌不只是一个平台。框架、形式和扭曲我们看待世界的方式 [英国媒体]

Google is not ‘just’ a platform. It frames, shapes and distorts how we see the world

谷歌不只是一个平台。框架、形式和扭曲我们看待世界的方式

Last week, we reported how extremist sites ‘game’ the search engine, boosting their propaganda. In response, the web giant appears to have modified some results, but would like us not to notice

上周我们报道了极端分子网站如何“玩弄”搜索引擎，以增强他们的宣传攻势。作为回应，这家网络巨头貌似已经修改了某些搜索结果，想不让我们注意到。

【日期】2016年12月11日



Did the Holocaust really happen? No. The Holocaust did not really happen. Six million Jews did not die. It is a Jewish conspiracy theory spread by vested interests to obscure the truth. The truth is that there is no evidence any people were gassed in any camp. The Holocaust did not happen.

大屠杀真的发生过？？ 没有，其实没有那回事儿，所谓600万犹太人死于大屠杀只是犹太人的阴谋论，既得利益者们想要掩盖真相而散布的谎言而已。哪有证据证明有人在集中营死于毒气。所以大屠杀是捏造的。

Are you happy with that answer? Happy that if you have children, this is what they’re being exposed to? That all across America and France and Hungary and Holland and Britain, when people ask that question, this is what they are clicking on and reading and absorbing? No? Well, then, we really, really need to talk about Google. Right now. Because these are the “facts” of what happened according to the number one source of information to the entire planet. Type this into your Google search bar: “did the hol”. And Google suggests you search for this: “Did the Holocaust happen?”

这个答案你满意么？如果你为人父母，你是不是很高兴这就是你的孩子们所接触到的信息？无论在美国，法国，匈牙利还是在荷兰，英国，如果有人提出这个问题，得到的就是这样的答案吗？难道不是？好吧，我们真的得好好聊聊谷歌，因为眼下，在这个地球上最大的信息源看来，这些就是所谓事实。只要在谷歌的搜索栏里键入“did the hol”，谷歌就会自动跳出“Did the Holocaust happen?”

And this is the answer: no. The top result is a link to stormfront.org, a neo-Nazi site and an article entitled: “Top 10 reasons why the Holocaust didn’t happen”. The third result is the article “The Holocaust Hoax; IT NEVER HAPPENED”. The fifth is “50 reasons why the Holocaust didn’t happen.” The seventh is a YouTube video “Did the Holocaust really happen?” The ninth is “Holocaust Against Jews is a Total Lie – Proof.”

然后，谷歌据此问题给出的答案就是no。 排名最高的搜索结果指向一家新纳粹网站的链接stormfront.org，引用的文章标题为《大屠杀是谎言的十大理由》。排名第三的结果指向的文章名为《一场骗局：子虚乌有的大屠杀》。而排名第五的则是《大屠杀从没有发生过的50个原因》，排在第七位的则是一个油土鳖视频《大屠杀真有其事吗？》第九是《力证戳破弥天大谎--犹太人大屠杀》

This is what Danny Sullivan, the editor of SearchEngineLand, a leading expert on Google search, means when he says “something has gone terribly wrong with Google’s algorithm”. Stormfront describes itself as “the voice of the new, embattled white minority… a community of racial realists and idealists”. It’s the kind of site that Gideon Falter, the chair of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, says is being used to radicalise a new generation of extreme, violent, rightwing individuals. It’s where Anders Breivik used to hang out online. It’s where, on its discussion forum, users gathered to celebrate the murder of Jo Cox.

SearchEngineLand的编辑Danny Sullivan专门研究谷歌搜索，他想以此说明一个问题，谷歌的算法出现了严重问题。Stormfront网站自我标榜为：为四面楚歌的白人少数派发声，种族现实主义者和种族理想主义者的家园。抵制反犹运动的领导者Gideon Falter把这类网站归类为煽动民众培养新一代极端主义者，暴力分子和右翼分子的工具。在这里网页上经常挂出Anders Breivik的照片 （挪威杀人魔，杀了77个人），论坛里的用户们聚在一起庆祝Jo Cox遇刺身亡（英国工党，支持留欧）。

And, according to Google, it’s the most authoritative source on the internet on the “question” of whether or not the Holocaust actually happened. Sceptical, educated people will of course look for other evidence. These are the searches that Google lists at the bottom of the page as suggestions for what to search next: “Holocaust never happened theory” “proof the Holocaust happened” “Holocaust fake proof” “Holocaust never happened movie” “Holocaust didn’t happen conspiracy” “did the Holocaust happen during ww2.”

然而根据谷歌规则，这种网站提供的信息居然成为“大屠杀是否事实”的最权威答案。受过教育有质疑精神的人自然会多方求证。在谷歌列出的热门搜索里，像“大屠杀虚无论”“大屠杀史证”“二战时发生过犹太人大屠杀吗？”这类问题，都是排名垫底的。

A week ago I wrote in the Observer about how rightwing websites have successfully colonised a vast swathe of the internet. About how they have gamed Google’s algorithm. About how Jonathan Albright, an associate professor at Elon University in the US, had mapped them to show how they have become a vast and growing ecosystem that is encroaching on the mainstream news and information infrastructure like a cancer. How Google, with all its money and resources, is being owned by hate sites who have hijacked its search results.

一周前我在Observer上写过一篇文章，讲述右翼网站如何在互联网上攻城掠地，如何将算法利用的炉火纯青。美国伊隆大学副教授Jonathan Albright描绘右翼网站如何像癌症一样疯长成庞大的生态系统，侵蚀主流新闻信息基础建设。仇恨网站如何利用算法操控搜索结果，使财大气粗资源丰富的谷歌沦为傀儡。

One week on, Google is still quietly pretending there’s nothing wrong, while surreptitiously going in and fixing the most egregious examples we published last week. It refused to comment on the search results I found – such as the autocomplete suggestion that “jews are evil”, with eight of its 10 top results confirming they are – and, instead, hand-tweaked a handful of the results. Or as, we call it in the media, it “edited” them. It did this without acknowledging there was any problem or explaining the basis on which it is altering its results, or why, or what its future editorial policy will be. Its search box is no longer suggesting that Jews are still evil but it’s still suggesting “Islam should be destroyed”. And, it is spreading and broadcasting the information as fact.

一周过去了，谷歌装着没事儿人似的，暗地里倒是悄悄锁定了我们上周文章里举得那个反面事例。它拒绝对我的发现发表评论，比如我提过系统推荐关键字：犹太人邪恶。然后排名前十的搜索结果里有八个都是肯定回答。现在它手工调整了一些搜索结果，或者我们应该说，它只是在网站上修改了内容。事前没有承认问题，未就修改给出任何理由，也没有声明未来是否针对问题给出相关补救政策。现在搜索栏里不会自动推荐“犹太人邪恶”，但是它依然会跳出“绿教该死”的字样，并且把这当真理去宣传。

This is hate speech. It’s lies. It’s racist propaganda. And Google is disseminating it. It is what the data scientist Cathy O’Neil calls a “co-conspirator”. And so are we. Because what happens next is entirely down to us. This is our internet. And we need to make a decision: do we believe it’s acceptable to spread hate speech, to promulgate lies as the world becomes a darker, murkier place?

谷歌正在传播仇恨言论，谎言，种族主义，所以数据科学家称它为“同谋”。我们也是，因为事情的走向如何完全取决于我们。这就是我们的网络环境。到了我们下决心的时刻了：难道我们真觉得世界已经黑暗到可以宣扬仇恨，颠倒黑白了么？

Because Google is only beyond the reach of the law if it we allow it to be. It’s selling ads against these searches. It’s profiting from Holocaust denial. Its algorithm is helping Stormfront reach new recruits – the next generation of Thomas Mairs and Breiviks – all the while adding to its bottom line, its quarterly profits. This week, Chi Onwurah, the shadow secretary of state for culture, media and sport tweeted her concern about the subject but noted “I’m sure @Google will argue they aren’t responsible for the results”.

如果我们不作为，谷歌就会成为法外之地。谷歌靠广告赚钱，它从这些右翼网站获利，它的算法帮助这些右翼分子招兵买马---培养新一代的Thomas Mairs 和 Breiviks。自始至终这些都与谷歌的盈亏息息相关，关系到谷歌的季度盈利。国家文体影子内阁Chi Onwurah在推特上对这个议题表达了关切，不过他也说谷歌肯定不会承认这个锅。

Only, here’s the thing: that’s exactly what they are. Responsible. Google writes the code that drives the algorithm that returns the results. How they write this code, what they use to assess authority and credibility, how that enables Stormfront to spread its lies and spew its poison is entirely its responsibility. When the shadow minister whose brief this includes fails to realise this, we have some idea of the scale of the problem.

事情的唯一重点在于：责任。算法决定搜索结果，而谷歌决定算法。如何写代码，如何评估答案的权威性真实性，算法怎么没能拦住Stormfront这种是非不分言辞淬毒网站？这些完全是谷歌的责任。影子部长的寥寥数语没有意识到这点，我们对这个问题有些想法。

Our problem too: because do we let these multinational corporations own us and all aspects of our lives? Is that the plan? The Google Transparency Project has documented how the company has become one of the biggest spenders on government lobbyists in the US. It has also shown how in the US, UK and Europe there has been an open door between government and senior positions at Google – the GTP found 251 instances of staff moving between the two in the US and 80 in Europe.

还是我们的问题：是不是我们自己让这些跨国公司插手到生活的方方面面？谷歌透明性项目（一个反谷歌组织）证明在美国，谷歌是政府说客的大赞助商之一，而无论在美国，英国还是欧洲，政府大门都向谷歌高层敞开，GTP 发现了美国政府与谷歌高层的人员往来（251件事例）也查到欧洲政府与谷歌高层的联系（80件事例）。

That is how power works. This is how power works too: the last time I wrote a story that Google didn’t like, I got a call from Peter Barron, Google’s UK head of press, who was at pains to point out the positive and beneficial relationship that Google has with the Guardian Media Group, our owners.

有权力就是任性啊。上次也是，我写了些谷歌不爱看的事情，于是我接到了谷歌英国分公司媒体部头头的电话，他在电话里煞费苦心地跟我分析谷歌和卫报集团（也就是我家老板）之间相亲相爱互利互惠的关系。

Google’s business model is built around the idea that it’s a neutral platform. That its magic algorithm waves its magic wand and delivers magic results without the sullying intervention of any human. It desperately does not want to be seen as a media company, as a content provider, as a news and information medium that should be governed by the same rules that apply to other media. But this is exactly what it is. This week’s editing of the content around evil Jews has demonstrated exactly that. And our failure – the failure of our politicians and the mainstream press – to reckon with it makes us an accessory to the crime. We are colluding with it in broadcasting hate speech and lies.

谷歌的生意模式是建立在“中立平台”的认可之上，它的算法魔杖一挥，神奇的结果就出来了，在这个过程中不应有任何人为干扰。谷歌最不希望被当作媒体公司，因为如果是内容提供商，就得和其他的新闻媒体一样，遵守相关法规，受规则束缚。但是本周谷歌偷偷摸摸修改关于犹太人搜索内容的行径不恰恰证明它就是个内容贩子么。而我们这些主流媒体和政治家的失败，让我们成为了罪行的帮凶。我们的不作为在为仇恨谎言推波助澜。

The right is on the rise everywhere. And that includes on the internet. It is creating more content that is travelling wider and further. It has changed both the questions being asked – did the Holocaust actually happen? Are Jews evil? Should Islam be destroyed – and answered. It is in the process of remaking the world, rewriting history, rewiring minds, changing the conversation, reframing the questions and answers. It’s our world. Our internet. Our history. And we have to wake up to what is happening right now on the laptop on our desk, the phone in our pocket, the tablet in our children’s bedrooms. This is our choice: do something. Or accept the truth according to Google. That six million didn’t die. That the Holocaust never happened. That we didn’t care enough to remember.

现在全球右翼势力都在抬头，网上也是。他们不断造谣流毒甚广。它改变问题的问法和答案。“真的有犹太人大屠杀么？”“犹太人是不是邪恶的？”“绿教是不是该灭？”这是在重塑世界，捏造历史，洗刷三观，偷换概念，扭曲问答。这是我们的世界，我们的互联网，我们的历史。醒醒吧，看清楚我们的电脑手机里，孩子们的pad上都在胡说八道什么。这才是我们的选择：行动起来。或者就接受谷歌所谓的真相：没有600万死者，没有大屠杀。我们毫不在意无需铭记。