立法者对扎克伯格对言论自由的承诺表示怀疑。
Lawmakers are skeptical of Zuckerberg's commitment to free speech

原始链接: https://www.theverge.com/news/646288/congress-zuckerberg-wynn-williams-careless-people

Meta举报人、书籍《粗心大意的人》(Careless People)的作者莎拉·温-威廉姆斯(Sarah Wynn-Williams)在美国参议院司法小组委员会作证,指控马克·扎克伯格为了获得权力而不择手段,“变化莫测”。她声称,在其在Meta任职期间,扎克伯格优先考虑讨好中国政府,甚至不惜牺牲美国国家安全,包括为中国开发审查工具和提供用户数据。 包括霍利和克洛布查参议员在内的立法者对扎克伯格最近转向倡导言论自由表示怀疑,尤其考虑到Meta正试图通过与温-威廉姆斯的书相关的法律诉讼来压制她。他们指责扎克伯格虚伪,并要求他向委员会作证,敦促他停止试图压制温-威廉姆斯。参议员们批评了Meta过去在中国方面的行为以及其将增长置于美国利益之上的做法。Meta否认了温-威廉姆斯的指控,称其“与现实脱节”。

Hacker News 上的一篇文章讨论了立法者对扎克伯格对言论自由承诺的怀疑态度。 一些用户认为,言论自由指的是政府的限制,而不是私人平台,并且不受监管的平台往往会变成污秽之地。另一些人则认为,Facebook 在通讯领域的支配地位使其在言论自由方面占据独特的地位,他们主张建立去中心化的平台以消除守门人。一些人认为,古典自由主义下的“言论自由”是指不被政府干涉言论的权利。 有人指出,扎克伯格的行为是由利润而非原则驱动的,主张进行监管以防止滥用。一些人认为立法者本身在其对言论自由的支持方面也是选择性的。另一些人则认为,问题不仅仅是审查制度,而是内容传播的压制。讨论包括社交媒体平台的范围和责任,以及为保护开放式沟通而可能需要进行监管或架构变更。

原文

Meta’s latest whistleblower, Sarah Wynn-Williams, got a warm reception on Capitol Hill Wednesday, as the Careless People author who the company has fought to silence described the company’s chief executive as someone willing to shapeshift into whatever gets him closest to power.

The message was one that lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism were very open to. Their responses underscore that amid CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s latest pivot in cozying up to the right, his perception in Washington has not yet totally changed, even as he reportedly lobbies President Donald Trump to drop the government’s antitrust case against the company.

“He’s recently tried a reinvention in which he is now a great advocate of free speech, after being an advocate of censorship in China and in this country for years,” subcommittee Chair Josh Hawley (R-MO) said, pointing to longtime conservative allegations that Meta has suppressed things like vaccine skepticism and the Hunter Biden laptop story. “Now that’s all wiped away. Now he’s on Joe Rogan and says that he is Mr. Free Speech, he is Mr. MAGA, he’s a whole new man, and his company, they’re a whole new company. Do you buy this latest reinvention of Mark Zuckerberg?”

“If he is such a fan of freedom of speech, why is he trying to silence me?” Wynn-Williams asked in response. Meta convinced an arbitrator to order her to stop making disparaging statements and halt further publishing and promotion of the book, which details Meta’s alleged dealings with the Chinese government and claims of sexual harassment from a top executive. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone has called Careless People “defamatory,” but the book’s publisher said it would “continue to support and promote it.”

“We don’t know what the next costume’s going to be, but it will be something different”

Wynn-Williams also told Hawley that Zuckerberg “is a man who wears many different costumes. When I was there, he wanted the president of China to name his first child, he was learning Mandarin, he was censoring to his heart’s content. Now his new costume is MMA fighting or free speech. We don’t know what the next costume’s going to be, but it will be something different. It’s whatever gets him closest to power.”

At the hearing, Wynn-Williams testified that during her time at the company between 2011 and 2017, Meta and Zuckerberg were willing to “undermine American national security” in service of currying favor with the Chinese government. She accused Meta of working on “censorship tools” that the Chinese government could use to silence critics and provided the Chinese Communist Party American user data.

In a statement, Meta spokesperson Ryan Daniels called Wynn-Williams’ testimony “divorced from reality and riddled with false claims. While Mark Zuckerberg himself was public about our interest in offering our services in China and details were widely reported beginning over a decade ago, the fact is this: we do not operate our services in China today.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said she found it “ironic” that China was a focus of the hearing, given that when she tried to pass a tech antitrust bill, “one of the things that kept being thrown in my face and in those of others that work on this, is that ‘you’re actually going to destroy us and then China will dominate,’” she said. “Your book actually reveals the extent to which Facebook was willing to put growth over the US national interest to gain favor with the Chinese Communist Party.”

Lawmakers dared Zuckerberg to testify before their committee himself to clear up their issues with her statements. “Stop trying to silence her, stop trying to gag her, stop trying to hide behind your lawyers and millions of dollars in legal fees you’re trying to impose on her,” said Hawley. “Come to this committee, take the oath, sit there, let us question you, and give the American people the truth. We will be waiting for you.”

Wynn-Williams told the subcommittee her testimony “may be the last time I’m allowed to speak” given the legal restrictions. “It’s not going to be the last time you’re allowed to speak if we have anything to do with it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “What I would say to Mark Zuckerberg is, stop gagging Ms. Wynn-Williams, let her speak the truth, and you come here and tell us your version of the truth, if you have the guts to do it.”

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