Regulate social media?It's not as easy as it seems!

四川双流中学 蒋建平（特级教师）

体裁 议论文 文章词数 374 建议用时 7 min

难词探意

1.consensus/kən΄sensəs/ n.一致的意见；共识

2.unilaterally/ˌjuːnı΄lætrəli/ adv.单方面地；单边地

3.regime/reı΄ʒiːm/ n.政权；政体

4.legislation/ˌledʒıs΄leıʃn/ n.法律；立法

5.sanction/΄sæŋkʃn/ n.制裁；处罚

Social media companies should no longer be left to monitor and remove harmful content themselves,but should be regulated by an independent body,recommends a new paper following the Christchurch terror attack.

A report from the Helen Clark Foundation is calling on an independent regulatory body to be created to oversee the regulation of social media companies.

The report's co-author Katherine Errington told Newsroom that the consensus about regulating tech companies had shifted from not wanting to regulate at all to making sure that the regulation was done well.She said some countries like Singapore had created an environment where governments were in the position of deciding“what is true”.Singapore's fake news laws allow the government to unilaterally remove content which it deems to be untrue.Critics argue this allows the government to get rid of free speech.

Errington said that,by contrast,she wanted to propose “a democratic model”.Her paper proposes an independent regulatory body along the lines of the New Zealand Media Council and Broadcasting Standards Authority.This would replace the current regime in which social media companies are largely left to selfregulate how they monitor and remove harmful content.She said the regulator needs to be comprised of a range of voices including those of government and public interest groups.Errington is calling for the Law Commission to review regulation of social media to close some of the holes in the legislation.

Another issue is how to appropriately punish social media companies who break the rules.Errington said sanctions tend to fit into three broad categories:financial punishment,individual liability of executives,and the disruption of media companies'business.

In all cases,the trend overseas has been for increasingly severe sanctions on social media companies.However，they have also highlighted the need for social media companies to act quickly to take harmful content off their platforms,recognising that content left online for longer becomes exponentially more difficult to remove.

In any case Errington sees the fact that the debate has moved from whether action should be taken to what form that action should be taken as a positive thing.New Zealanders will get their first look at the government's response this week when the“Christchurch Call”is unveiled in Paris.

Reading Check

1.What does the new paper following the Christchurch terror attack argue?

2.How did people's consensus about regulating tech companies change according to Katherine Errington?

3.Why can we say that Singapore is strict in regulating social media?

4.Who plays a leading role in controlling harmful content according to paragraph 4?

5.How many categories of sanctions are applied to punish illegal social media companies?

Language Study

Difficult sentence

However,they have also highlighted the need for social media companies to act quickly to take harmful content off their platforms,recognising that content left online for longer becomes exponentially more difficult to remove.

【翻译】

【点石成金】句中的have highlighted 为谓语部分，the need 为宾语，for social media companies to act quickly to take harmful content off their platforms 为动词不定式的复合结构作后置定语。recognising that...to remove 在句中作伴随状语，that 引导的句子作及物动词recognise 的宾语从句；content left online...to remove 是一个“主语+系动词+adj.+to do”句型，在此句型中，当主语与不定式构成动宾关系时，动词不定式常用主动形式表达被动含义。