VOA常速英语:Big Tech Faces New Scrutiny as US Lawmakers Look to Address Power

In the wake of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol,
在1月6日袭击美国国会大厦之后，
there is renewed interest in looking at the power of technology giants.
人们重新燃起了关注科技巨头力量的兴趣。
Protesters reportedly used social media to plan.
据报道，抗议者使用社交媒体策划。
Facebook and Twitter kicked off their sites of former President Donald Trump and others.
脸书和推特关闭了前总统唐纳德·特朗普等人的网站。
Google, Apple and Amazon booted Parlor, an app used by supporters of Trump.
谷歌、苹果和亚马逊关闭了特朗普支持者使用的app Parlor。
The real source of power is being a gatekeeper,being an intermediary that everyone has to pass through.
权力的真正来源是作为一个把关者，作为每个人都要通过的中介。
Thats really the thing that we want to look at.
这才是我们真正想要看的东西。
Scrutinizing so-called big tech is nothing new.
审查所谓的大科技并不是什么新鲜事。
Google, Facebook and Amazon are already facing antitrust investigations.
谷歌、脸书和亚马逊已经面临反垄断调查。
And tech CEOs routinely testify in Congress while many agree that tech has too much power.
尽管很多人都认为科技公司的权力太大，但科技公司的CEO们经常在国会作证。
They differ on what to do about it:
他们在如何应对这一问题上存在分歧：
break up the companies, restrict their abilities,
拆分公司，限制他们的能力，
to collect user data and allow users to sue if their privacy is violated,
收集用户数据，允许用户在隐私受到侵犯时提起诉讼，
put laws in place to make the firms responsible if they are conduits for online falsehoods.
如果这些公司是网络造假的渠道，要制定法律，让它们承担责任。
The Republicans are upset at what they see is "cancel culture"
共和党人对他们所看到的“取消”文化感到不满，
or companies moderating conservative speech on their platforms,
这些公司在自己的平台上缓和保守派的言论，
and Democrats tend to be more concerned that platforms arent moderating enough,
民主党人往往更担心平台不够温和，
and are leaving up too much hate speech or too much harassment.
留下太多的仇恨言论或骚扰。
When it comes to online misinformation, something both parties say is a problem.
当涉及网上假消息时，双方都认为这是一个问题。
Creating new rules can be difficult,particularly in the US where the First Amendment protects speech.
制定新规则可能很困难，特别是在第一修正案保护言论的美国。
How do you write a piece of legislation that makes illegal misinformation,
如何制定一项立法来惩治非法虚假信息
but protects satire and parody and comedy and commentary and hyperbole and like all of these other things
而又保护讽刺、戏仿、喜剧、评论、夸张等？
that we use for entertainment and that are important parts of political discussion and discourse?
它既是我们用来娱乐的，也是政治讨论和话语的重要部分。
Whats needed say some observers is a fresh look at big techs power,
一些观察家说，需要的是重新审视大科技的力量，
including how the technology itself works in uniting or dividing people.
包括技术本身是如何使人们团结或分裂的。
I think a national conversation on this:what are the rules of the road?
我想在全国范围内讨论这个问题：道路的规则是什么？
Whats the appropriate conduct?
什么是合适的行为？
How do we keep people safe?
我们怎样才能保证人们的安全？
And I think that is really a turning point.
我认为这是一个转折点。
Over coming months more users and governments worldwide will debate techs role as powerful gatekeepers for society.
在未来的几个月里，世界各地更多的用户和政府将讨论科技作为社会强大的把关者的角色。
Michelle Quinn VOA news
VOA新闻，米歇尔·奎恩报道。