風蕭蕭_Frank
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這是伊隆·馬斯克的 X，各國政府不得不忍受它
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/07/elon-musk-x-uk-trump-violence-00173067
作者：JOHN SAKELLARIADIS、CHRISTINE MUI 和 BRITTANY GIBSON 08/07/2024
從倫敦到華盛頓的官員都表示，馬斯克不對任何人負責。
伊隆·馬斯克發表講話。
憤怒的官員們正試圖找到影響世界首富的手段。 | Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
伊隆·馬斯克改版後的推特上，政治分歧和煽動性帖子的最大傳播者竟然是馬斯克本人。
在過去的兩周裏，這位億萬富翁煽動者在該平台上發布了一係列帖子，為英國幾十年來最嚴重的反移民騷亂火上澆油；分享了一段副總統卡馬拉·哈裏斯自認為是“最多元化的總統人選”的篡改視頻；並在沒有證據的情況下聲稱拜登-哈裏斯政府正在“大量引進”非法移民來左右 11 月的選舉。
馬斯克最近在網上發表了一係列含沙射影、半真半假和謊言，這越來越清楚地表明，這位科技大亨——而不僅僅是他的平台——對那些努力控製可能煽動極端暴力的內容的政府構成了最大的挑戰。
民主黨戰略家亞當·帕克霍門科 (Adam Parkhomenko) 在談到馬斯克在 X 上的帖子和對其他人內容不幹預的態度時表示：“埃隆正在以一種前所未有的方式將其武器化。”“隻是有點懷疑他為什麽被允許這樣做。”
X 沒有回應對本文的置評請求。
憤怒的官員們正試圖找到影響世界首富的手段。
一些英國議員周二表示，他們計劃就馬斯克在英國騷亂期間發表的言論，將他帶到議會接受質詢。密歇根州國務卿和北卡羅來納州選舉委員會本周表示，在收到投訴後，他們將對馬斯克創建的超級政治行動委員會可能濫用個人數據的情況展開調查。
周一，五名州選舉官員致信馬斯克，敦促他修複 X ??上的一個人工智能工具，該工具上個月錯誤地暗示哈裏斯沒有資格參加 2024 年的總統選舉。
明尼蘇達州州務卿史蒂夫·西蒙表示，他招募了其他官員，包括賓夕法尼亞州的共和黨同行，簽署了這封信，因為該公司對之前的投訴反應冷漠。
“現在大聲說出來很重要，因為在未來的 92 天內，類似的錯誤可能會帶來更大的風險，”民主黨人西蒙說。“今天，這是關於投票權的問題，但如果不加以製止和監管，下個月，如果是選民登記規則的問題怎麽辦？”
但措辭強硬的信仍然隻是……措辭強硬的信。
“我們的國務卿懇求一位自戀的億萬富翁管好自己，這一事實在我看來表明，我們作為一個社會正處於高度危險之中，沒有得到保護，因為缺乏責任感和艱難的決策，而這些本應由政府最高層做出，”當時 Twitter 的前研究員、現加州大學洛杉磯分校研究平台的教授莎拉·T·羅伯茨 (Sarah T. Roberts) 說。
英國的情況已經更加危急。英國當局動員了大約 6,000 名警員，因為極右翼團體計劃在全國 30 個地點實施襲擊，此前一名嫌疑人被誤認為是穆斯林移民，實施了致命的刺傷襲擊。
自稱“言論自由絕對主義者”的馬斯克加倍下注。他最初宣稱英國“內戰不可避免”，首相凱爾·斯塔默的辦公室表示，他的言論“毫無道理”。馬斯克的回應是抹黑斯塔默是“兩麵派”——這顯然是指英國警方在肇事者不是白人時對暴力行為的嚴厲程度較低的說法。英國司法部長海蒂·亞曆山大敦促“每個擁有平台的人”都要“負責任地行使自己的權力”。
馬斯克還展開了更廣泛的鬥爭。周二，X 向在馬斯克收購該網站後暫停廣告支出的廣告商提起了聯邦反壟斷訴訟。 “我們嚐試和平已有兩年，現在卻變成了戰爭，”馬斯克說。X 首席執行官琳達·亞卡裏諾 (Linda Yaccarino) 在一封公開信中寫道：“簡單地說，當思想市場受到破壞，一些觀點沒有得到資助，而其他觀點則因為非法抵製而得不到資助，人們就會受到傷害。”
這場鬧劇似乎隻會讓馬斯克在美國右翼中冉冉升起的新星更加光彩奪目。
周二，前總統唐納德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 宣布，他將於下周“與埃隆·馬斯克 (Elon Musk) 進行一次重要訪談”。
當馬斯克在 2022 年收購 Twitter 時，他承諾將徹底改革其內容審核方式，並讓平台上的言論“盡可能自由”。
作為“首席推特”的第一步就是恢複特朗普的賬戶。在特朗普的推特賬戶被永久停用後，Twitter 已永久停用該賬戶，以降低“進一步煽動暴力的風險”。
特朗普在推特上支持他的粉絲，他們曾對美國國會大廈發動致命襲擊。
到 2023 年，馬斯克將該平台更名為 X，裁掉了一半的選舉誠信團隊，解散了信任和安全委員會，並取消了 Twitter 的舊用戶驗證係統，允許任何人支付“藍色勾選”費用，這些勾選是高調用戶在提交身份證明後獲得的。
這些舉動引發了反對。由於擔心廣告活動會與仇恨言論一起出現，各公司減少了廣告支出；馬斯克告訴他們“去你媽的”。
歐盟委員會 7 月發現 X 的藍色勾選政策“具有欺騙性”，違反了《歐盟數字服務法》，可能導致巨額罰款。馬斯克對此作出回應，指責該機構向他的平台提供“非法秘密交易”，以迫使他審查言論。
但共和黨強硬派對馬斯克的改變表示歡迎。他們說，早些時候，推特利用其內容審核政策來壓製他們，不公平地將合法的保守派觀點打上“虛假信息”的標簽。
“沒有人比埃隆·馬斯克在互聯網言論自由方麵做得更多，他的平台比以往任何時候都更好，”眾議員吉姆·喬丹 (R-Ohio) 的發言人拉塞爾·戴伊 (Russell Dye) 說。
作為眾議院司法委員會主席，喬丹帶頭調查“大型科技審查製度”，部分依靠馬斯克公開的內部文件，這些文件是推特決定刪除鏈接到亨特·拜登筆記本電腦的故事的帖子。
當右翼擁抱馬斯克時，他也擁抱了右翼。
對於這位前民主黨捐助者來說，這是一個意識形態的轉變，他說他在 2020 年投票支持喬·拜登總統。
兩年後的 11 月，馬斯克支持好鬥的共和黨州長羅恩·德桑蒂斯 (Ron DeSantis) 擔任總統，後者承諾他的州是“覺醒者去死的地方”。 7 月，馬斯克公開支持特朗普，周三，他寫道：“卡瑪拉確實是共產主義者，盡管沒有證據。”
眾議院監督委員會資深成員傑米·拉斯金 (D-Md.) 眾議員在接受采訪時表示，X 已被收買。“吉姆·喬丹和 MAGA 共和黨人多年來一直在抱怨推特和臉書上對他們的偏見，”他說。“他們現在基本上得到了他們想要的一切，而 X 是埃隆·馬斯克本人的右翼宣傳和虛假信息載體。”
隨著特朗普的競選團隊繼續將 Instagram 和 YouTube 等其他平台打上威脅的標簽，馬斯克和共和黨旗手之間的新協同效應已經顯現。
“像 Meta 和穀歌這樣的大型科技公司被曝光傳播有關特朗普總統的錯誤信息和虛假信息，公然試圖幹涉選舉，”特朗普競選團隊發言人 Steven Cheung 說。特朗普的競選團隊並沒有直接解決有關 X 或馬斯克的錯誤信息。
Meta 拒絕置評，但表示其平台在特朗普 7 月躲過暗殺後，錯誤地將事實核查標簽貼在了他的照片上，隨後才修複了錯誤。穀歌沒有立即回應置評請求。
在美國大選前的最後幾個月，馬斯克全身心投入到選舉管理的瑣碎問題中。
6 月，馬斯克呼籲淘汰電子投票機，盡管目前使用的絕大多數投票機（包括每個搖擺州的投票機）都打印紙質選票，選民可以在現場核實。
他還多次分享或轉發未經證實的說法，稱數十萬非法移民正在登記參加這次選舉的投票，民主黨正在幫助他們。他後來暗示，任何反對共和黨支持的新法律的人都應該被判處死刑，該法律旨在阻止非公民投票。
無黨派選舉創新與研究中心執行董事兼創始人戴維·貝克爾表示，鑒於馬斯克在 X 上有近 2 億粉絲，他特別擔心馬斯克放大選舉虛假信息的能力。
他認為，馬斯克的帖子一天可以積累“數千萬”的瀏覽量，而選舉官員在同一時期可能隻能獲得 1,000 到 2,000 次瀏覽量。
“他作為超級傳播者傳播虛假信息的能力無人能及，”貝克爾說。
其他國家曾試圖追究馬斯克的責任，但都以失敗告終。馬斯克的 X 拒絕隱藏澳大利亞刺傷襲擊的帖子，導致該平台在聯邦法院勝訴。巴西最高法院法官下令對馬斯克涉嫌傳播虛假新聞展開調查。
拉斯金表示，他希望美國最高法院最近做出的一項裁決支持政府有權向科技平台舉報虛假信息，這將有助於“重申”政府官員打擊選舉虛假信息的承諾。
但拜登政府在案件審理期間大幅縮減了許多此類努力，拉斯金表示，他不確定聯邦機構在多大程度上“恢複了那些
之前就存在的製約因素。”
對於哈裏斯和特朗普的競選團隊來說，社交媒體的作用和猖獗的虛假信息並不是 2024 年周期所獨有的。盡管如此，馬斯克在 X 上製定規則的能力以及他在 X 上的霸權地位，在今年 11 月提出了一個獨特的挑戰。
策略師 Parkhomenko 表示，自從馬斯克收購該公司私有化以來，限製馬斯克影響力的工具就越來越少：“如果這是其他東西，比如一家上市公司，那麽擺在桌麵上的選擇就沒有那麽多了，”他說。
一位不願透露姓名的哈裏斯競選官員分享了內部運作情況，他表示，該團隊已經成立了一個團隊來處理社交媒體上的虛假信息。
X 仍然是選舉格局中的主導特征。擁有 3800 萬粉絲的拜登利用該平台宣布退出競選。
即使在特朗普被趕下台並成立 Truth Social 之後，他在自己平台上的帖子在 X 上轉發時也會獲得動力——包括他宣布即將采訪馬斯克。
每天早上和工作日下午提供華盛頓官方的非官方指南。
It's Elon Musk's X and governments are having to live with it
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/08/07/elon-musk-x-uk-trump-violence-00173067
By JOHN SAKELLARIADIS, CHRISTINE MUI and BRITTANY GIBSON
Officials from London to Washington say Musk is accountable to no one.
The biggest spreader of political divisiveness and incendiary posts on Elon Musk’s revamped Twitter is turning out to be Musk himself.
In just the last two weeks on the platform — since rebranded X — the billionaire provocateur unloaded a string of posts that poured fuel on the fire of Britain’s worst anti-immigration riots in decades; shared a doctored video of Vice President Kamala Harris deeming herself the “ultimate diversity hire” for president; and claimed without evidence that the Biden-Harris administration is “importing vast numbers” of illegal aliens to swing the November election.
Musk’s latest flurry of innuendo, half-truths and lies online is making it increasingly clear that it is the tech mogul — and not just his platform — who poses the greatest challenge to governments struggling to rein in content that can incite extremist violence.
“Elon is weaponizing this in a way it hasn’t been weaponized before,” Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko said of Musk’s posts and hands-off approach to others’ content on X. “It just is sort of questionable why he’s allowed to do what he’s doing.”
X did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Angry officials are trying to find levers to pull to influence the world’s richest man.
Some British MPs said Tuesday they plan to haul Musk in for questioning in front of parliament over his posts amid the U.K. riots. Michigan’s secretary of state and North Carolina’s Board of Elections said this week they are launching investigations into potential misuses of personal data by a Super PAC created by Musk after they received complaints.
And on Monday, five state election officials sent a letter to Musk urging him to fix an AI tool on X that falsely suggested last month that Harris was ineligible to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said he recruited other officials, including his Republican counterpart in Pennsylvania, to sign on to the letter because the company had reacted with indifference to earlier complaints.
“It’s important to speak up loudly now because a similar mistake in the future, over the next 92 days, might be a higher-stakes situation,” said Simon, a Democrat. “Today, it’s about ballot access, but if left unchecked and unpoliced, what if next month, it’s about voter registration rules?”
But a strongly worded letter is still just … a strongly worded letter.
“The fact that we have secretaries of state begging a narcissistic billionaire to behave himself suggests to me that we as a society are highly endangered and unprotected by a lack of responsibility and hard decision making that should be made at the highest levels of government,” said Sarah T. Roberts, a former staff researcher at then-Twitter, now a professor at UCLA studying platforms.
And higher-stakes situations are already unfolding in the U.K. British authorities are mobilizing some 6,000 officers as far-right groups plan to target as many as 30 spots around the country following a fatal stabbing attack by a suspect falsely identified as a Muslim immigrant.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has doubled down. He initially declared that “civil war is inevitable” in the U.K., comments that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said had “no justification.” Musk responded by smearing Starmer as “twotierkeir” — an apparent reference to claims that British police treat violence less harshly when the perpetrators are not white. U.K. Justice Minister Heidi Alexander has urged “everyone who has a platform” to exercise “their power responsibly.”
Musk also went on a broader battle footing. On Tuesday, X brought a federal antitrust lawsuit against advertisers who had paused their spending after Musk’s acquisition of the site. “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war,” Musk said. “To put it simply, people are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is undermined and some viewpoints are not funded over others as part of an illegal boycott,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in an open letter.
The drama seems to have only burnished Musk’s rising star with the American right.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump announced that he will be doing “A MAJOR INTERVIEW WITH ELON MUSK” next week.
When Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he promised he would overhaul its approach to moderating content and make speech on the platform “as free as possible.”
One of his first moves as “Chief Twit” was to reinstate Trump’s account. Twitter had permanently suspended it to reduce “risk of further incitement of violence” after Trump tweeted support for his followers who had launched a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
By 2023, Musk had rebranded the platform as X, axed half of its election integrity team, dissolved its trust and safety council, and done away with Twitter’s old user verification system by allowing anyone to pay for “blue checks” that high-profile users had previously earned after submitting proof of their identities.
The moves provoked pushback. Companies drew down their ad spending due to concerns that campaigns would appear alongside hate speech; Musk told them to “go fuck yourself.”
The European Commission in July found X’s blue checkmark policy “deceptive” and in violation of the EU Digital Services Act, which could lead to hefty fines. Musk responded by accusing the body of offering his platform an “illegal secret deal” to pressure him to censor speech.
But Republican hardliners have heralded Musk’s changes. They say the earlier Twitter weaponized its content moderation policies to silence them, unfairly branding legitimate conservative opinions as “disinformation.”
“No one is doing more for free speech on the internet than Elon Musk and his platform is working better than ever,” said Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
As chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Jordan spearheaded investigations into “Big Tech censorship,” relying in part on internal documents Musk made public over Twitter’s decisions to remove posts linking to a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
And as the right embraced Musk, he embraced the right.
It was an ideological shift for the former Democratic donor who said he voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.
By November two years later, Musk endorsed for president Florida’s combative Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who promised his state was “where woke goes to die.” In July, Musk publicly endorsed Trump, and on Wednesday he wrote, without evidence, “Kamala is quite literally a communist.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview that X had been co-opted. “Jim Jordan and the MAGA Republicans were whining for years about bias against them on Twitter and Facebook,” he said. “They’ve now essentially gotten everything they want, and X is a right-wing propaganda and disinformation vehicle for Elon Musk himself.”
The new synergy between Musk and the Republican standard bearer has emerged as Trump’s campaign continues to brand other platforms like Instagram and YouTube as a threat.
“Big Tech companies like Meta and Google have been exposed for spreading misinformation and disinformation about President Trump in a blatant attempt to interfere in the election,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said. Trump’s campaign did not directly address misinformation on X or about Musk.
Meta declined to comment, but has said its platforms incorrectly applied a fact check label to a photo of Trump after he survived a July assassination attempt, before fixing the error. Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
In the final months before the U.S. elections, Musk has hurled himself into weedy issues of election administration.
In June, Musk called for the elimination of electronic voting machines, even though the vast majority of voting machines in use today — including in every swing state — print a paper ballot voters can verify on site.
He has also repeatedly shared or retweeted unsubstantiated claims that hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are registering to vote in this election, and that Democrats are helping them. He later implied that anyone opposing a new GOP-backed law aimed at preventing non-citizens from voting deserved the death penalty.
David Becker, the executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, said he is particularly concerned about Musk’s ability to amplify falsehoods about elections given his nearly 200 million followers on X.
Musk’s posts can rack up “tens of millions” of views in a day, whereas election officials might only get 1,000 to 2,000 views in that same period, he argued.
“His ability to spread disinformation as a superspreader is unmatched,” Becker said.
Other countries have tried and failed to hold Musk accountable. Musk’s X refused to hide posts of a stabbing attack in Australia, resulting in a federal court case that the platform won. A Supreme Court justice in Brazil ordered an investigation into Musk over his alleged dissemination of fake news.
Raskin said he is hopeful that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision backing the government’s right to flag disinformation to tech platforms would help “renew the commitment” of government officials to combat false information on elections.
But the Biden administration dramatically scaled many of those efforts back while the case worked its way through the courts, and Raskin said he wasn’t sure to what extent federal agencies “have restored the kinds of checks that existed before.”
For the Harris and Trump campaigns, the roles of social media and the rampant misinformation are not unique to the 2024 cycle. Nevertheless, Musk’s ability to set the rules on X and his bully pulpit on it presents a unique challenge this November.
Parkhomenko, the strategist, said there are fewer tools to restrict Musk’s reach since his takeover took the company private: “There’s not as many options on the table as there might be, if this was something else, like a publicly traded company,” he said.
A Harris campaign official, granted anonymity to share internal operations, said that it has a team in place to handle social media disinformation.
X remains a dominant feature of the election landscape. Biden, with 38 million followers, used the platform to announce he would withdraw from the race.
Even after Trump was ousted and founded Truth Social, his posts on his own platform gather momentum when they are reposted on X — including his announcement of his upcoming interview with Musk.
