譯/周辰陽
研究顯示 一定程度上,2020年假訊息防衛戰成功了
Not long after misinformation plagued the 2016 election, journalists and content moderators scrambled to turn Americans away from untrustworthy websites before the 2020 vote.
假訊息困擾美國2016年選舉後不久,記者與內容審查員忙著在2020年投票前讓美國人遠離不可信賴網站。
A new study suggests that, to some extent, their efforts succeeded.
一項新研究表明,在一定的程度上,他們的努力成功了。
When Americans went to the polls in 2020, a far smaller portion had visited websites containing false and misleading narratives compared with four years earlier, according to researchers at Stanford University. Although the number of such sites ballooned, the average visits among those people dropped, along with the time spent on each site.
據史丹福大學研究人員所說,跟4年前相比,美國人2020年前往投票所時,到訪過含有錯誤與誤導性言論網站的比率要小得多。儘管此類網站數量激增,這些人的平均訪問次數以及在每個網站消磨的時間都下降了。
Efforts to educate people about the risk of misinformation after 2016, including content labels and media literacy training, most likely contributed to the decline, the researchers found. Their study was published Thursday in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
研究人員發現,2016年後教育民眾關於假訊息風險的努力,包括內容標籤與媒體識讀訓練,很可能促成了下降。他們的研究周四刊登在《自然人類行為》期刊。
Still, nearly 68 million people in the United States checked out websites that were not credible, visiting 1.5 billion times in a month in 2020, the researchers estimated.
儘管如此,研究人員估計,美國有近6,800萬人查看了不可信的網站,2020年一個月內訪問了15億次。
As the 2024 election approaches, the researchers worry that misinformation is evolving and splintering. Beyond web browsers, many people are exposed to conspiracy theories and extremism simply by scrolling through mobile apps such as TikTok. More dangerous content has shifted onto encrypted messaging apps with difficult-to-trace private channels, such as Telegram or WhatsApp.
隨著2024年選舉接近,研究人員擔心假訊息正在演變跟分裂。除了網路瀏覽器之外,許多民眾僅僅通過上下捲動諸如TikTok的行動應用程式,就接觸到了陰謀論與極端主義。更多危險內容已轉移到設有難以追蹤私人頻道的加密通訊應用程式,像是紙飛機(Telegram)或WhatsApp。
The boom in generative artificial intelligence, the technology behind the popular ChatGPT chatbot, has also raised alarms about deceptive images and mass-produced falsehoods.
熱門的「ChatGPT」聊天機器人背後技術,即生成式人工智慧的迅速發展,也引發對欺騙性圖像跟大規模生產謬誤的警告。
The Stanford researchers said that even limited or concentrated exposure to misinformation could have serious consequences. Baseless claims of election fraud incited a riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. More than two years later, congressional hearings, criminal trials and defamation court cases are still addressing what happened.
史丹福大學研究人員表示,即使是有限或集中接觸假訊息,也可能產生嚴重後果。毫無根據的選舉舞弊說法煽動了2021年1月6日美國國會山莊暴亂事件,2年多以後,國會聽證會、刑事官司與誹謗訴訟案件仍在處理當時發生的事情。
The Stanford researchers monitored the online activity of 1,151 adults from Oct. 2 through Nov. 9, 2020, and found that 26.2% visited at least one of 1,796 unreliable websites. They noted that the time frame did not include the postelection period when baseless claims of voter fraud were especially pronounced.
史丹福大學研究人員監控1151名成年人從2020年10月2日至11月9日的線上活動,發現26.2%訪問了1796個不可靠網站裡的至少一個。他們指出,時間範圍並不包含選後時期,此時無根據的選舉舞弊說法特別明顯。
That was down from an earlier, separate report that found that 44.3% of adults visited at least one of 490 problematic domains in 2016.
這個數字低於一份之前的單獨報告,該報告發現44.3%的成年人在2016年訪問過490個有問題網域裡的至少一個網站。