雅思口语9分带你阅读《经济学人》: A $44bn Education
Elon Musk’s $44bn education in free speech
埃隆·马斯克440亿美元的言论自由教训
He has had a crash course in the trade-offs in protecting free expression on Twitter
在保护Twitter言论自由的权衡取舍方面，他上了个速成班
Dec 19th 2022
FILE - SpaceX's Elon Musk waves while providing an update on Starship, on Feb. 10, 2022, near Brownsville, Texas. Twitter on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2022, suspended the accounts of journalists who cover the social media platform and Musk, including reporters working for The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and other publications
2022年2月10日，在德克萨斯州布朗斯维尔附近，SpaceX的埃隆·马斯克在提供星舰更新时挥手致意。推特于2022年12月15日周四暂停了报道社交媒体平台和马斯克的记者的账户，包括为《纽约时报》、《华盛顿邮报》、《美国有线电视新闻网》和其他出版物工作的记者
Elon musk’s two months running Twitter has been an unhappy experiment. The social network’s 250m users have endured a wearying saga in which Mr Musk is the central character. Advertisers have fled. Twitter, which lost $221m in 2021, is now on track to lose $4bn a year, by one estimate. The damage has spread to Tesla, Mr Musk’s carmaker, part of the reason it has lost half a trillion dollars in market value since early September, costing Mr Musk the title of the world’s richest man.
埃隆·马斯克经营Twitter的两个月是一次不愉快的实验。该社交网络的2.5亿用户经历了一段令人厌倦的传奇故事，马斯克是其中的中心人物。广告商纷纷逃离。据估计，2021年亏损2.21亿美元的Twitter现在有望每年亏损40亿美元。损失已经蔓延到马斯克的汽车制造商特斯拉，这是该公司自9月初以来市值损失5000亿美元、马斯克失去全球首富头衔的部分原因。
On December 19th it looked as if Mr Musk might throw in the towel, after he asked Twitter users whether he should step down as Twitter’s chief executive. It has been a costly adventure. But in one sense his turbulent stewardship of the social network has done the rest of the world a favour. In two short months Mr Musk has been through a public crash course in the principles of free speech, neatly demonstrating the trade-offs involved in protecting expression online.
12月19日，在问Twitter用户他是否应该辞去Twitter首席执行官一职后，马斯克似乎要认输了。这是一次代价高昂的冒险。但从某种意义上说，他对社交网络的动荡管理，帮了世界其它地区一个忙。在短短的两个月里，马斯克参加了一个关于言论自由原则的公共速成班，巧妙地展示了保护网络言论所涉及的权衡。
From the outside, Twitter seemed simple to someone whose day job was building self-driving cars and space rockets. Mr Musk, a self-described “free-speech absolutist”, had grown concerned (with some justification) that Twitter had been captured by censorious left-wing scolds. Shortly after agreeing to buy the platform he explained his approach to moderation: “By ‘free speech’, I simply mean that which matches the law.”
从外面看，对于一个日常工作是制造自动驾驶汽车和太空火箭的人来说，Twitter似乎很简单。马斯克先生自称是“言论自由的绝对主义者”，他越来越担心(在一定程度上) Twitter 已经被挑剔的左翼批评者占领。在同意购买该平台后不久，他解释了他的节制方法：“我所说的‘言论自由’只是指符合法律的言论。”
In practice he has found that the right to speech conflicts with other rights. One is safety. Last month Mr Musk said that his commitment to free speech meant he would not ban a Twitter account that tweeted the whereabouts of his private jet, even though he considered this a security risk. But on December 14th he changed his mind after a “stalker” bothered his son. After suspending the jet account, Twitter introduced rules outlawing the reporting of others’ real-time locations.
在实践中，他发现言论权与其他权利相冲突。一个是安全。上个月，马斯克表示，他对言论自由的承诺意味着他不会禁止一个 Twitter 账户发布他私人飞机的下落，尽管他认为这是一个安全风险。但是在12月14日，一个“跟踪者”骚扰了他的儿子，他改变了主意。在暂停了暴露他飞机的账户后，Twitter引入了禁止报告他人实时位置的规定。
As well as limiting speech in the name of safety, Mr Musk has curtailed it to avoid the lesser sin of causing offence. In October the number of views of tweets that Twitter deems “hate speech” doubled, as users tested the limits of Mr Musk’s regime. Rather than allow this legal-but-nasty content, Twitter cracked down. In November hateful tweets recorded one-third fewer views than before the takeover. Earlier this month Twitter suspended the account of Ye, a rapper formerly known as Kanye West, after he posted a picture of a swastika within a Star of David—an image that, however grotesque, is nonetheless permitted by America’s laws.
除了以安全的名义限制言论，马斯克还减少了言论，以避免造成冒犯他人这一较轻的罪行。10月，随着用户测试马斯克政权的极限，Twitter认为“仇恨言论”的推文浏览量翻了一番。Twitter 没有允许这种合法但令人讨厌的内容，而是对其进行了打击。今年11月，充满敌意的推文的浏览量比收购前减少了三分之一。本月早些时候，Twitter暂停了说唱歌手坎爷的账户，因为他发布了一张大卫之星上的纳粹党徽图片后，暂停了他的账号。无论这张图片多么怪诞，美国法律仍然允许这样做。
Mr Musk even limited speech when it was bad for profits. After pranksters sent tweets aping brands like Pepsi (“Coke is better”) and Nestlé (“We steal your water and sell it back to you lol”), Twitter outlawed such behaviour to stop advertisers fleeing. Then, to stem an exodus of users, on December 18th Twitter said it would ban people from linking to rival social networks or posting their usernames. When questions were raised as to whether regulators would consider such a move anticompetitive, Mr Musk apologised and free speech was restored.
当言论对利润不利时，马斯克甚至会限制言论。在恶作剧者发推特模仿百事可乐（“可口可乐更好”）和雀巢（“我们偷了你的水再卖给你，哈哈”）等品牌后，Twitter宣布这种行为为非法，以阻止广告商逃离。然后，为了阻止用户流失，12月18日，Twitter表示将禁止人们链接到竞争对手的社交网络或发布自己的用户名。当有人质疑监管机构是否会认为此举反竞争时，马斯克先生道歉并恢复了言论自由。
All this holds two lessons for whoever follows Mr Musk as Twitter’s boss, should he leave. One is to keep content moderation at arm’s length. The person deciding whether a post is acceptable is compromised if they are also responsible for boosting engagement among users and spending by advertisers. Mark Zuckerberg (whose reputation has risen in light of Mr Musk’s pratfalls) realised this and outsourced Facebook’s moderation headaches to an independent “oversight board” in 2020.
如果马斯克离开，所有这些都为接替他成为Twitter老板的人提供了两个教训。一个是与内容保持一定距离。如果决定一个帖子是否可以接受的人还负责提高用户的参与度和广告商的投资，那这个人就很难办了。马克·扎克伯格（他的声誉因马斯克的失误而上升）意识到了这一点，并在2020年将 Facebook 的缓和难题外包给了一个独立的“监督委员会”。
The second lesson is that moderation has no clean solutions, even for “technokings” with strong views on free speech. Free expression is not a problem with a solution bounded by the laws of physics that can be hacked together if enough coders pull an all-nighter. It is a dilemma requiring messy trade-offs that leave no one happy. In such a business, humility and transparency count for a lot.
第二个教训是，一味地温和并不是好的解决方案，即使是对言论自由持强烈观点的“科技狂人”也是如此。如果有足够多的程序员通宵工作，那么自由表达并不是一个物理定律约束下解决方案所面临的问题。这是一个两难的境地，需要混乱的权衡，没有人会高兴。在这样的行业中，谦逊和透明非常重要。
These are novel concepts to some in Silicon Valley, who are impatient to tear up the established ways of doing things. But just as cryptocurrency enthusiasts have recently received a bracing lesson in the value of boring old financial prudence, Mr Musk and his fellow free-speech enthusiasts are learning why free expression has caused so many to scratch their heads for so long. Tech valuations have suffered a sharp correction in 2022. It has also been a chastening year for tech egos.
对于硅谷的一些人来说，这些都是新奇的概念，他们迫不及待地想要打破既定的做事方式。但正如加密货币爱好者最近得到了一个令人振奋的教训: 乏味的旧式财务审慎的价值所在，马斯克先生和他的言论自由爱好者同伴们正在学习为什么言论自由让那么多人挠头这么长时间。科技股估值在2022年遭遇大幅回调。对于技术自负的人来说，这也是磨练的一年。
Notes
Wearying adj. making you feel tired疲倦的: a long wearying journey
Saga n. a long complicated series of related, usually negative, events冒险故事；传说；英雄事迹；: It was just another episode in the ongoing saga of their marriage problems.
On track making progress and likely to succeed走上正轨: They're on track to make record profits.
Throw in the towel to stop trying to do something because you have realized that you cannot succeed认输;觉得成功无望而放弃: Three of the original five candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination have now thrown in the towel.
Turbulent adj. involving a lot of sudden changes, arguments, or violence骚动的；骚乱的: a turbulent marriage
Stewardship n. Someone's stewardship of something is the way in which that person controls or organizes it管理工作；管事人的职位与职责: The company has been very successful while it has been under the stewardship of Mr White.
Crash course a course that teaches you a lot of basic facts in a very short time强化速成班: I did/took a crash course in French before my trip to Paris.
Absolutist n. a person who holds absolute principles in political, philosophical, or theological matters专制主义者；绝对论者: He was a moral absolutist with little patience for shades of grey.
Censorious adj. often criticizing other people吹毛求疵的: his censorious attitude to those who do not share his opinions.
Moderation n. the quality of doing something within reasonable limits自我节制；自我控制: You can eat whatever you want as long as it's in moderation.
Whereabouts n. the place where a person or thing is下落；去向: Trupin is thought to be in the Caribbean, although his exact whereabouts are/is a mystery.
Outlaw v. to make something illegal or unacceptable宣布…为违法: The new law will outlaw smoking in public places.
Curtail v. to stop something before it is finished, or to reduce or limit something截断；缩短: to curtail your holiday/spending
Regime n. a particular way of operating or organizing a business, etc.政权；政体；社会制度；管理体制: The regime in this office is hard work and more hard work.
Takeover n. a situation in which a company gets control of another company by buying enough of its shares接管；收购；接收: They were involved in a takeover last year.
Grotesque adj. strange and unpleasant, especially in a silly or slightly frightening way奇形异状的；奇怪的；可笑的: By now she'd had so much cosmetic surgery that she looked quite grotesque.
Prankster n. someone who plays pranks on people恶作剧者
Ape v. to copy something or someone badly and unsuccessfully（尤指笨拙地）模仿；学…样子: He called the new building unoriginal and said that it merely aped the classical traditions.
Stem v. to stop something unwanted from spreading or increasing遏制；封堵；遏止: These measures are designed to stem the rise of violent crime.
Exodus n. the movement of a lot of people from a place大批的离去: There has been a mass exodus of workers from the villages to the towns.
Pratfall n. an embarrassing defeat or failure丢人现眼: Most of us get over the pratfalls of childhood.
Oversight n. responsibility for a job or activity and for making sure it is being done correctly疏忽；失察: Who has oversight of genetic testing?
Novel adj. new and original, not like anything seen before新奇的；异常的: a novel idea/suggestion
Bracing adj. having a strong effect on your senses or emotions令人兴奋的；使人心旷神怡的: The finale, bracing and exhilarating, dazzled from start to finish.
Prudence n. behaviour that is careful and avoids risks审慎: The firm was commended for its financial prudence.
Scratch your head to think hard about something冥思苦想: A lot of people must be scratching their heads about which way to vote.
Chastening adj. to make someone understand that they have failed or done something wrong and make them want to improve矫正的；惩戒性的；精炼的: He was chastened by the defeat and determined to work harder.
Ego n. a person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance自我；自我意识的；自负
文章脉络
【1】收购推特后，马斯克频遭打击
【2】推特给马斯克上了一堂言论自由的课
【3】马斯克担心左翼人士言论“攻占”推特平台
【4】绝对的言论自由会侵犯他人的人身安全
【5】绝对的言论自由会冒犯他人
【6】马斯克甚至决定屏蔽对广告金主不利的言论
【7】&【8】推特继任者需要明白的两个道理
【9】推特给了马斯克深刻的教训
