Facebook因Libra开启听证模式【经济学人精讲】第344期
文章导读
本文选自《经济学人》2019年7月20日文章。自从Facebook要推出Libra电子货币后，美国各界都不淡定了。在金融界，《华尔街日报》一直发文抨击Libra，毕竟Libra动了华尔街的奶酪；在政界，Facebook高管受国会议员听证更是家常便饭。Facebook高管称，Libra的盈利将来自广告，挖掘交易数据也需要用户同意。丑闻缠身的Facebook为什么要推出一种全球金融工具？又是否能做好这款电子货币？
由于篇幅较长，本文节选原文标题和全文重点段落进行精讲，
选文精讲
Facebook says it will behave better from now on
Facebook说，从现在开始会表现得更好
Promise 承诺
Jul 20th 2019
THE SCENE is becoming familiar: a Facebook executive is hauled before Congress in Washington, DC; a public grilling ensues. At least on July 16th and 17th American lawmakers looked better prepared than they were a year ago when they displayed little idea of Facebook’s business during hearings over its failure to stop a rogue consultancy from harvesting data on 50m users without permission. This time David Marcus fielded mostly sensible questions about the social network’s nascent cryptocurrency project, Libra, which he heads. Would transaction data be mined for valuable spending patterns? How will Facebook make money from Libra, which is to be governed by an independent body based in Switzerland?
grill: 严厉盘问，此外该词还有“炙烤”的意思
ensue: 接着发生
nascent: 新兴的、初生的
这一幕变得越来越熟悉:Facebook的一位高管被带到华盛顿特区的国会面前;公众的拷问随之而来。至少在7月16日和7月17日，美国国会议员们看起来比一年前准备得更充分了，当时他们在听证会上对Facebook的业务几乎一无所知，该公司当时因未能阻止一家流氓咨询公司在未经许可的情况下收集5000万用户的数据而接受听证。这一次，大卫·马库斯回答了有关这家社交网络公司新兴加密货币项目Libra的大部分合理问题。交易数据会被挖掘出有价值的消费模式吗?Facebook将如何从Libra赚钱?Libra将由一个总部位于瑞士的独立机构管理。
Mr Marcus offered reasonable answers. User consent will be required to mine transaction data; money will come from advertisers, happy to pay to gain access to consumers more willing to part with their money thanks to easier online payments. The big question on everybody’s mind was different, however: why on Earth would scandal-plagued Facebook launch a global financial instrument at all?
scandal-plagued: 丑闻缠身的
马库斯先生给出了合理的答案。挖掘交易数据需征得用户同意；Facebook的盈利将来自广告商，他们愿意付费，以获得更愿意掏钱的消费者，因为在线支付更加便捷。然而，每个人心里都有一个大问题：丑闻缠身的Facebook究竟为什么要推出一种全球金融工具?