The side-effects of the TikTok tussle

tussle：美 [?t?s?l] 激烈扭打；爭奪 注意發音

side-effects：副作用；（side-effect的復數）

As the app’s future hangs in the balance, the ramifications of the battle are becoming clearer

隨著這款應用的未來懸而未決，這場戰斗的結果變得越來越清晰

in the balance：懸而未決, 結果未定；在危急時刻

ramification：英 [?ram?f??ke??(?)n] 衍生結果；派生影響；后果；結果；

原文：

JOE BIDEN’S re-election campaign wants you to know that the president is

funny. To prove it, examples of his hilarity are posted almost daily to his

TikTok page. One video, peppered with fire emojis, shows him cracking

jokes about Donald Trump. Viewers have their own gag: isn’t he trying to

ban this app?

喬·拜登的連任競選想讓你知道總統很有趣。為了證明這一點，他的TikTok 主頁上幾乎每天都有他搞笑的例子。一個視頻中夾雜著火焰表情符號，顯示他開唐納德·特朗普的玩笑。觀眾有自己的插科打諢:他不是要封殺這個應用嗎？

學習：

hilarity：美 [h??l?r?ti] 極度快樂；狂歡；歡鬧

peppered：使布滿；加胡椒；撒胡椒粉于；（pepper的過去式和過去分詞）

peppered with：點綴著

crack jokes：講笑話

gag： 美 [ɡ?ɡ] 笑話；玩笑；噱頭；（尤指專業喜劇演員的）插科打諢；惡作劇；

原文：

The government says it is not banning TikTok but has given it an ultimatum:

sell to a suitable non-Chinese owner by January or shut down. It deems

TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese firm, to be controlled by a

“foreign adversary” and to be a national-security threat. Politicians accuse

China of using TikTok to steal Americans’ data and spread propaganda.

政府表示并不是禁止TikTok，而是給它下了最后通牒:在一月份之前賣給合適的非Chinese所有者，否則就關門大吉。它認為Chinese公司字節跳動擁有的TikTok 被“外國對手”控制，是國家安全的威脅。政客們指責China利用TikTok竊取美國人的數據和傳播宣傳。

學習：

ultimatum：美 [??lt??me?t?m] 最后通牒 注意發音

deems： 美 [di:mz] 認為；（deem的第三人稱單數）

adversary： 美 [??dv?rseri] 對手；敵手；競爭者；反對者； 注意發音

原文：

TikTok denies these charges and is suing. So are its users. They argue that

divestment is “simply not possible” (China could block it) and Congress is

“singling out and banning TikTok”, in violation of the First Amendment

rights of its 170m American users. Imposing restrictions on speech in favour

of national security is an “extraordinarily high bar”, says Ashley Gorski of

the American Civil Liberties Union, an advocacy group. It requires concrete

evidence that TikTok poses an imminent, serious threat—something Ms

Gorski and others argue the government has not provided. Lawmakers were

briefed on TikTok’s risks in private, but little has been made public.

TikTok 否認這些指控，并正在起訴。它的用戶也是如此。他們辯稱，撤資“根本不可能”(China可能會阻止)，而且國會正在“挑出并禁止TikTok”，這侵犯了其1.7億美國用戶的第一修正案權利。倡導團體美國公民自由聯盟的阿什利·格爾斯基說，為了國家安全而限制言論是一個“非常高的門檻”。它需要具體的證據證明TikTok 構成了迫在眉睫的嚴重威脅——格爾斯基女士和其他人認為政府沒有提供這些證據。議員們私下了解了TikTok 的風險，但很少公開。

學習：
charge：指控

sue：起訴

divestment：美 [d??v?stm?nt] 撤資

briefed：向…作全面指示或介紹；做簡報；（brief的過去式和過去分詞）

原文：

The dispute will probably reach the Supreme Court. In the meantime, the

ramifications of the tussle are becoming clearer. They go well beyond

TikTok.

這場爭論可能會達到最高法院。與此同時，這場爭斗的后果越來越清晰。他們遠遠超越了TikTok。

原文：

The law includes criteria for a president to add other companies. Any

platform with more than 1m monthly active users in America and at least

20% owned by a foreigner based in one of the four “adversary” countries—

China, Iran, North Korea and Russia—could be targeted. Raja

Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic congressman and one of the bill’s co-

sponsors, says this brings social media up to date with foreign-ownership

limits on other media.

該法律包括總統增加其他公司的標準。任何在美國擁有超過100萬月活躍用戶，并且至少20%由來自四個“敵對”國家之一的外國人擁有的平臺——China、伊朗、朝鮮和俄羅斯——都可能成為目標。民主黨國會議員Raja Krishnamoorthi是該法案的共同發起人之一，他表示，這使得社交媒體與其他媒體的外國所有權限制保持一致。

原文：

Some worry that the scope of the law is too broad. Video-games and other

messaging services are potentially in the line of fire. The government could

widen the definition of adversary countries, says Corbin Barthold, at

TechFreedom, a think-tank. Many expect other countries to cite America’s

move against TikTok as justification for targeting foreign apps they disagree

with, potentially further fragmenting the global internet. Shutting TikTok in

America would be “a gift to authoritarians around the world”, warns Ramya

Krishnan, at the Knight Institute, a free-speech centre at Columbia

University

一些人擔心該法律的范圍太廣。視頻游戲和其他信息服務可能會受到攻擊。智囊團TechFreedom的Corbin Barthold說，政府可以擴大敵對國家的定義。許多人預計，其他國家會以美國針對TikTok的行動為由，針對他們不同意的外國應用程序，這可能會進一步分裂全球互聯網。哥倫比亞大學言論自由中心奈特研究所的拉姆亞·克里希南警告說，關閉美國的TikTok 將是“給全世界獨 裁主義者的一份禮物”

學習：

fragmenting：分割；碎片；裂成碎片；使裂成碎片；（fragment的現在分詞）

原文：

TikTok’s efforts to oppose the legislation may have subjected it to further

regulatory scrutiny. It sent notifications to its users urging them to call

Congress and “stop a TikTok shutdown”. Mr Krishnamoorthi claims Capitol

Hill was “flooded” with calls, many from children, some of whom allegedly

did not know what a congressman was. He is calling for an inquiry by the

Federal Trade Commission, a trustbuster, into whether that broke child-

privacy laws. “The power that a foreign adversary has with that app was

underscored by their influence campaign,” he says. TikTok denies these

allegations and says the calls were from “voting-age people”.

TikTok反對該法案的努力可能會使其受到進一步的監管審查。它向用戶發送通知，敦促他們打電話給國會，“阻止TikTok政府關門”。Krishnamoorthi先生聲稱國會山被電話“淹沒”,許多來自兒童，據稱其中一些人不知道什么是國會議員。他呼吁反壟斷機構美國聯邦貿易委員會調查這是否違反了兒童隱私法。“他們的影響力活動凸顯了外國對手在該應用上的力量，”他說。TikTok否認這些指控，并表示這些電話來自“投票年齡的人”。

學習：

notifications：通知；通告；（notification的復數）

Capitol Hill：國會山

inquery： 美 [??nkw?ri] 詢問；疑問；調查；審查

allegations： 美 [??l??ge???nz] 斷言；主張；辯解；（allegation的復數）

原文：

The firm insists that it is doing its best to co-operate with the government

and has protected Americans’ data “in a way that no other company has

done”. In its lawsuit TikTok claims it gave the authorities an “extraordinary”

option to suspend the app if it was found to violate provisions of a draft

national-security agreement negotiated through the Committee on Foreign

Investment in the United States, a watchdog. The company says the Biden

administration has ignored this effort, and the $2bn-plus it has invested in

Project Texas, a collaboration with Oracle, a tech giant, to wall off

Americans’ data from ByteDance.

該公司堅稱，它正在盡最大努力與政府合作，并“以其他公司沒有的方式”保護了美國人的數據。在訴訟中，TikTok聲稱，如果發現該應用違反了通過監管機構美國外國投資委員會(Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States)談判達成的國家安全協議草案的條款，它會給當局一個暫停該應用的“特殊”選項。該公司表示，拜登政府忽視了這一努力，并投資了20多億美元在與科技巨頭甲骨文合作的德克薩斯項目(Project Texas)上，以隔離美國人在字節跳動的數據。

學習：

provisions： 美 [pr??v??nz] 條款；規定；（provision的復數）

violate provisions：違反條款

wall off：隔離；阻擋

原文：

Mr Krishnamoorthi is unimpressed. The government worked for “years”

with TikTok to try to mitigate national-security risks, he says. “You couldn’t

trust anything that they said about Project Texas.”

Krishnamoorthi先生不為所動。他說，政府與TikTok合作了“數年”,試圖減輕國家安全風險。“你不能相信他們說的任何關于德克薩斯項目的話.”

學習：

unimpressed：沒有留下深刻印象的；不感興趣的

原文：

For now, Mr Biden’s campaign can meme away on TikTok throughout the

election season. Mr Trump—who tried to ban TikTok under an executive

order in 2020 but has since reversed his position—is apparently mulling a

campaign launch on the app, according to the Washington Post. The

MAGA super PAC has already entered the ring. It would all be hilarious if the stakes

weren’t so high. ■

就目前而言，拜登的競選活動可以在整個選舉季圍繞TikTok進行。據《華盛頓郵報》報道，特朗普曾試圖在2020年通過行政命令禁止TikTok，但后來改變了立場。特朗普顯然正在考慮在該應用上發起一場競選活動。MAGA super PAC已經進入了擂臺。如果賭注不是這么高，那就太搞笑了。■

學習：

mulling：美 ['m?l??] 研磨；深思熟慮；（mull的現在分詞形式）

stakes：賭注

hilarious：美 [h??leri?s] 非常滑稽的；令人捧腹大笑的；極有趣的；

后記

2024年7月5日19點46分于上海。