Around five years ago, it struck me that I was losing the ability to engage with people who aren't like-minded.
大约五年前，我突然发现我在丧失与立场不同的人交流的能力。
The idea of discussing hot-button issues with my fellow Americans
单是跟美国同胞讨论争议性话题这个想法让我感到心累的程度，
was starting to give me more heartburn than the times that I engaged with suspected extremists overseas.
甚至就超过了我和海外可疑的极端主义者有过的交流。
It was starting to leave me feeling more embittered and frustrated.
这开始让我感到更加痛苦和沮丧。
And so just like that, I shifted my entire focus from global national security threats
于是就这样，我把我的焦点从影响全球国家安全的威胁，
to trying to understand what was causing this push towards extreme polarization at home.
转移到了寻找那个导致国内民众两极化的原因上。
As a former CIA officer and diplomat who spent years working on counterextremism issues,
作为一名前中情局警官和外交官，我在解决反极端主义的问题上有着多年的工作经验，
I started to fear that this was becoming a far greater threat to our democracy than any foreign adversary.
我开始担心，这对我们国家的民主造成的威胁会超过来自国外对手的威胁。
And so I started digging in, and I started speaking out,
于是我开始深究，开始发声，
which eventually led me to being hired at Facebook and ultimately brought me here today
后来脸书聘请了我，也最终引领我来到了这里，
to continue warning you about how these platforms are manipulating and radicalizing so many of us
使我能继续警告各位，这些平台在如何操控和极端化我们的思想，
and to talk about how to reclaim our public square.
并谈谈我们应该如何夺回自己的公共空间。
I was a foreign service officer in Kenya just a few years after the September 11 attacks,
就在911事件发生的几年后，我曾担任过肯尼亚外交官，
and I led what some call "hearts and minds" campaigns along the Somalia border.
那时我在索马里的边境领导了一个叫“心灵与精神”的项目。
A big part of my job was to build trust with communities deemed the most susceptible to extremist messaging.
我的主要工作是与那些最容易被极端主义思想影响的群体建立信任。
I spent hours drinking tea with outspoken anti-Western clerics and even dialogued with some suspected terrorists,
我花了大量的时间与直言不讳的反西方教士喝茶，甚至跟疑似恐怖份子的人进行过谈话，
and while many of these engagements began with mutual suspicion,
虽然这些交谈都是从互相怀疑开始的，
I don't recall any of them resulting in shouting or insults, and in some case we even worked together on areas of mutual interest.
他们却从来没有大喊或说过任何辱骂的话，有些时候，我们甚至能在共同感兴趣的领域一起合作。
The most powerful tools we had were to simply listen, learn and build empathy.
我们拥有的最有效的工具就是聆听、学习还有建立同理心。
This is the essence of hearts and minds work,
这就是“心灵与精神”这份工作的核心，
because what I found again and again is that what most people wanted was to feel heard, validated and respected.
因为我多次发现，他们大多数人想要的无非是被聆听、被认可，还有被尊重。
And I believe that's what most of us want.
我相信这也是我们大多数人想要的。
So what I see happening online today is especially heartbreaking and a much harder problem to tackle.
可如今，网络上发生的一切却令我心碎，也让我明白，这是一个很难解决的问题。
We are being manipulated by the current information ecosystem
我们正被目前的信息网络操纵，
entrenching so many of us so far into absolutism that compromise has become a dirty word.
陷入了绝对主义中，在这里，“妥协”已经成为一个肮脏的字眼。
Because right now, social media companies like Facebook
因为当今，类似于脸书的社交媒体公司
profit off of segmenting us and feeding us personalized content that both validates and exploits our biases.
通过为我们提供个性化的内容来获利，而这些内容既认可，也利用了我们的偏见。
Their bottom line depends on provoking a strong emotion to keep us engaged,
他们的底线就是，通过激起强烈的情绪来让我们沉迷，
often incentivizing the most inflammatory and polarizing voices, to the point where finding common ground no longer feels possible.
持续强调那些煽性的、十分两极化的声音，直到找到共同点变得不再可能。
And despite a growing chorus of people crying out for the platforms to change, it's clear they will not do enough on their own.
虽然越来越多的人开始要求这些平台做出改变，但单靠它们是明显不够的。
So governments must define the responsibility for the real-world harms being caused by these business models
所以，政府必须定义这些对社会造成危害的商业模式需承担什么样的责任，
and impose real costs on the damaging effects they're having to our public health, our public square and our democracy.
并让它们因严重损害我们的公共健康、公共空间，还有我们的民主付出代价。
But unfortunately, this won't happen in time for the US presidential election, so I am continuing to raise this alarm,
但不幸的是，在美国大选之前这都不可能发生，所以我只能继续发出警告，
because even if one day we do have strong rules in place, it will take all of us to fix this.
因为即使有一天我们有了强有力的法律，还是需要大家一起来解决问题。
When I started shifting my focus from threats abroad to the breakdown in civil discourse at home,
当我的注意力从海外威胁转移到已然破碎的国内民众对话时，
I wondered if we could repurpose some of these hearts and minds campaigns to help heal our divides.
我曾想过，是否可以重新利用“心灵与精神”这个项目来缓解国内的分歧。
Our more than 200-year experiment with democracy works
我们过去200多年的民主实验之所以有效，
in large part because we are able to openly and passionately debate our ideas for the best solutions.
很大程度是因为我们可以公开并且热情地讨论想法，以找到最佳解决方案。
But while I still deeply believe in the power of face-to-face civil discourse,
我始终坚信，面对面的民间对话是有效的，
it just cannot compete with the polarizing effects and scale of social media right now.
但它确实难以对抗如今社交媒体带来的两极分化的效应和规模。
The people who are sucked down these rabbit holes of social media outrage
那些沉陷于社交媒体上激进内容的人，
often feel far harder to break of their ideological mindsets than those vulnerable communities I worked with ever were.
与我曾经合作过的那些弱势群体相比，更难脱离他们的固有观念。
So when Facebook called me in 2018
所以在2018年，当脸书找到我，
and offered me this role heading its elections integrity operations for political advertising, I felt I had to say yes.
并给我提供了这份负责政治广告管理的工作时，我觉得我必须答应。
I had no illusions that I would fix it all,
我知道我可能无法解决所有的问题，
but when offered the opportunity to help steer the ship in a better direction, I had to at least try.
但有了这个可以引导民众的机会，我必须至少尝试一下。
I didn't work directly on polarization, but I did look at which issues were the most divisive in our society
虽然我们没有研究过两极分化，但是我确实研究过哪些问题最容易引起社会分裂，
and therefore the most exploitable in elections interference efforts, which was Russia's tactic ahead of 2016.
在选举干扰中也最易被利用，这也是俄罗斯在2016年前的策略。
So I started by asking questions.
所以我从提问开始。
I wanted to understand the underlying systemic issues that were allowing all of this to happen, in order to figure out how to fix it.
我想找到导致这一切发生的潜在的系统性问题，以便找到解决的方法。
Now I still do believe in the power of the internet to bring more voices to the table,
现在，我仍然相信互联网的力量能让更多的声音参与进来，
but despite their stated goal of building community,
尽管它们宣称的目标是建立社区，
the largest social media companies as currently constructed are antithetical to the concept of reasoned discourse.
目前最大的社交媒体公司的构建方式与理性言论的概念却是背道而驰的。
There's no way to reward listening, to encourage civil debate and to protect people who sincerely want to ask questions in a business
你没有办法奖励倾听、鼓励民众讨论，你也没有办法去保护那些诚恳提问的人，
where optimizing engagement and user growth are the two most important metrics for success.
在一个把优化用户参与度和用户增长量作为衡量成功的两大指标的行业里。
There's no incentive to help people slow down, to build in enough friction that people have to stop,
没有任何激励因素去帮助人们慢下来，没有去建立足够的摩擦让人们不得不停下来，
recognize their emotional reaction to something, and question their own assumptions before engaging.
认识到自己对某事的情绪化反应，并且在参与之前质疑自己的假设。
The unfortunate reality is: lies are more engaging online than truth,
令人遗憾的事实是：网络上的谎言比真相更吸引人，
and salaciousness beats out wonky, fact-based reasoning in a world optimized for frictionless virality.
淫秽信息胜过了基于事实的推理，这都发生在一个优化无摩擦的、病毒式传播的世界里。
As long as algorithms' goals are to keep us engaged,
只要算法的目标是保持我们的参与，
they will continue to feed us the poison that plays to our worst instincts and human weaknesses.
它们就会继续“喂”迎合我们最糟糕的本能和人性弱点的毒药。
And yes, anger, mistrust, the culture of fear, hatred: none of this is new in America.
当然，愤怒、不信任、恐惧和仇恨的文化：这些在美国都不是新事物。
But in recent years, social media has harnessed all of that and, as I see it, dramatically tipped the scales. And Facebook knows it.
但近年来，社交软件充分利用了这一切，并且在我看来，还起到了决定性的作用。脸书也深谙这一点。
A recent "Wall Street Journal" article exposed an internal Facebook presentation from 2018
《华尔街日报》最近的一篇文章披露的一项脸书2018年的内部演示中，
that specifically points to the companies' own algorithms for growing extremist groups' presence on their platform and for polarizing their users.
特别提到了该公司自己的算法让越来越多的极端组织信息出现在其平台上，并导致了用户两极分化。
But keeping us engaged is how they make their money.
但让我们参与其中正是它们赚钱的方式。
The modern information environment is crystallized around profiling us
现代信息环境是通过我们的信息画像而构建的，
and then segmenting us into more and more narrow categories to perfect this personalization process.
再将我们分割成越来越细小的类别，从而完善这个个性化的过程。

We're then bombarded with information confirming our views, reinforcing our biases, and making us feel like we belong to something.
然后，我们被可以证实我们观点的信息狂轰滥炸，强化我们的偏见，并且让我们感觉属于某类群体。
These are the same tactics we would see terrorist recruiters using on vulnerable youth,
这些策略和那些恐怖分子用于招募弱势青少年的伎俩如出一辙，
albeit in smaller, more localized ways before social media, with the ultimate goal of persuading their behavior.
尽管是用比社交媒体更小、更本土化的方式，但最终目标都是灌输某种行为。
Unfortunately, I was never empowered by Facebook to have an actual impact.
不幸的是，我从未被脸书授权去产生实质影响。
In fact, on my second day, my title and job description were changed and I was cut out of decision-making meetings.
事实上，在我工作的第二天，我的头衔和具体工作就发生了变化，并且被排除在决策会议外。
My biggest efforts, trying to build plans to combat disinformation and voter suppression in political ads, were rejected.
我最大的努力，试图制定计划，以打击政治广告中的虚假信息和投票权压制被拒绝了。
And so I lasted just shy of six months. But here is my biggest takeaway from my time there.
所以我只坚持了不到6个月就辞职了。但这是我在这段期间最大的收获。
There are thousands of people at Facebook who are passionately working on a product that they truly believe makes the world a better place,
成千上万的人在脸书工作，充满热情的投入于这个他们相信能将世界变得更美好的产品，
but as long as the company continues to merely tinker around the margins of content policy and moderation,
但是，只要公司依然仅仅只是在内容政策和合理性的边缘试探，
as opposed to considering how the entire machine is designed and monetized,
而不考虑整个平台的设计和赚钱方式，
they will never truly address how the platform is contributing to hatred, division and radicalization.
那它们永远不会真正解决平台是如何助长仇恨、分裂和激进这些问题的。
And that's the one conversation I never heard happen during my time there, because that would require fundamentally accepting that
而这也正是我在那里从未听到过的对话，因为那将会需要你从根本上接受，
the thing you built might not be the best thing for society and agreeing to alter the entire product and profit model.
你所创造的东西可能不是对社会最有益的东西，并同意改变整个产品和盈利模式。
So what can we do about this? I'm not saying that social media bears the sole responsibility for the state that we're in today.
那么我们能做些什么呢？我并不是说社交媒体要为我们国家的现状承担唯一的责任。
Clearly, we have deep-seated societal issues that we need to solve.
显然，我们有一些根深蒂固的社会问题需要解决。
But Facebook's response, that it is just a mirror to society,
但脸书的回应只是社会的一面镜子，
is a convenient attempt to deflect any responsibility from the way their platform is amplifying harmful content and pushing some users towards extreme views.
这是一种转移其平台放大有害言论，并将一些用户推向极端观点的责任的方便说辞。
And Facebook could, if they wanted to, fix some of this.
当然，如果脸书的确有这方面的主观意愿，是可以解决其中一些问题的。
They could stop amplifying and recommending the conspiracy theorists, the hate groups, the purveyors of disinformation and,
他们可以停止推荐和放大阴谋理论家、仇恨组织和虚假信息散布者的影响，
yes, in some cases even our president.
是的，在某些情况下，甚至包括我们的总统。
They could stop using the same personalization techniques to deliver political rhetoric that they use to sell us sneakers.
它们可以停止使用与推销跑鞋同样的个性化推荐服务来传递政治说辞。
They could retrain their algorithms to focus on a metric other than engagement,
它们可以重新修改算法，去专注于一个非用户互动类的度量指标，
and they could build in guardrails to stop certain content from going viral before being reviewed.
也可以建立信息护栏，防止某些内容在被审核之前像病毒一样被传播。
And they could do all of this without becoming what they call the arbiters of truth.
他们可以做到所有这一切。而不必成为他们所谓的“真理仲裁者”。
But they've made it clear that they will not go far enough to do the right thing without being forced to, and, to be frank, why should they?
但是他们已经明确表示，除非被强制这样做，否则他们就不会积极采取正确的行动，毕竟，坦白说，他们为什么要这么做呢？
The markets keep rewarding them, and they're not breaking the law.
市场一直在奖励他们，他们也没有违法。
Because as it stands, there are no US laws compelling Facebook, or any social media company,
因为就现在的情况而言，美国并没有法律强制脸书或者其他社交媒体公司
to protect our public square, our democracy and even our elections.
去保护我们的公共广场、民主，甚至是我们的选举。
We have ceded the decision-making on what rules to write and what to enforce to the CEOs of for-profit internet companies.
我们已经将制定和执行哪些计划的决定权交给了盈利性互联网公司的首席执行官们。
Is this what we want? A post-truth world where toxicity and tribalism trump bridge-building and consensus-seeking?
这是我们想要的吗？一个有毒言论和部落主义彻底压倒打造沟通桥梁和追求共识的后真相世界？
I do remain optimistic that we still have more in common with each other than the current media and online environment portray,
我仍然乐观的认为，我们要比现存的媒体和网络环境所描绘的彼此拥有更多的共同点，
and I do believe that having more perspective surface makes for a more robust and inclusive democracy.
我也坚信相信，拥有更多视角会让民主更加健康和包容。
But not the way it's happening right now. And it bears emphasizing, I do not want to kill off these companies.
但不是以目前的方式。需要强调的是，我并不想搞垮这些公司。
I just want them held to a certain level of accountability, just like the rest of society.
我只想让它们承担一定程度的责任，就像社会中的其他人一样。
It is time for our governments to step up and do their jobs of protecting our citizenry.
我们的政府是时候站出来做好保护我们公民的工作了。
And while there isn't one magical piece of legislation that will fix this all,
虽然还没有一项神奇的立法可以解决所有的问题，
I do believe that governments can and must find the balance between protecting free speech and holding these platforms accountable for their effects on society.
但我的确相信，政府可以，而且必须在保护自由言论和让这些平台为它们的社会影响负责之间找到平衡。
And they could do so in part by insisting on actual transparency around how these recommendation engines are working,
他们可以做到这一点，通过保证这些推荐引擎如何工作，
around how the curation, amplification and targeting are happening.
如何进行管理、放大和定位的透明度。
You see, I want these companies held accountable not for if an individual posts misinformation or extreme rhetoric,
我希望这些公司不仅是对个人发布虚假信息或者极端言论负责，
but for how their recommendation engines spread it, how their algorithms are steering people towards it,
还要对他们的推荐引擎如何传播这些信息，他们的算法如何引导人们使用这些信息，
and how their tools are used to target people with it.
以及他们的工具如何被用来针对这些人负责。
I tried to make change from within Facebook and failed,
我试图从脸书内部做出改变，但是我失败了，
and so I've been using my voice again for the past few years to continue sounding this alarm and hopefully inspire more people to demand this accountability.
所以在过去几年，我一直在用自己的声音不断发出警告，希望能激发更多的人来要求这种责任。
My message to you is simple: pressure your government representatives to step up and stop ceding our public square to for-profit interests.
我要传递给你们的信息很简单：对你们的政府代表施压，让他们站出来，停止将我们的公共空间拱手让给以营利为目的获利行为。
Help educate your friends and family about how they're being manipulated online.
帮助你的朋友和家人了解他们在网上是如何被操纵的。
Push yourselves to engage with people who aren't like-minded. Make this issue a priority.
推动自己和没有共同想法的人交流。把这个问题当作优先事项。
We need a whole-society approach to fix this.
我们需要一个能动员全社会的方法来解决它。
And my message to the leaders of my former employer Facebook is this:
我对我的前雇主，脸书的领导们想要说的是：
right now, people are using your tools exactly as they were designed to sow hatred, division and distrust,
现在，人们正在使用你们设计好的工具传播仇恨、分裂和不信任，
and you're not just allowing it, you are enabling it.
而你们不仅允许了，而且还在加剧这种情况。
And yes, there are lots of great stories of positive things happening on your platform around the globe,
没错，在全球范围内你们的平台上发生了很多积极的事，
but that doesn't make any of this OK.
但这并不意味着这一切都是可以接受的。
And it's only getting worse as we're heading into our election,
随着选举的临近，情况越来越糟，
and even more concerning, face our biggest potential crisis yet, if the results aren't trusted, and if violence breaks out.
更值得担忧的是，如果选举结果不被信任，如果暴力事件爆发，那么迄今为止最大的潜在危机将不可避免。
So when in 2021 you once again say, "We know we have to do better,"
所以到2021年，当你们再说，“我们知道我们必须做得更好”时，
I want you to remember this moment, because it's no longer just a few outlier voices.
我想要你们记住现在这一刻，因为这再也不只是一些局外人的声音。
Civil rights leaders, academics, journalists, advertisers, your own employees,
民权领袖、学者、记者、广告商和你们自己的员工
are shouting from the rooftops that your policies and your business practices are harming people and democracy.
都会在屋顶上大声呼吁，你们的政策和商业行为一直都在危害人民和民主。
You own your decisions, but you can no longer say that you couldn't have seen it coming. Thank you.
决定权在你们手中，但是你们再也不能说，你们不可能预见这样的后果。谢谢。