HackMDTable of Contents
原文連結：https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1335nj316lo
新聞+註釋
Bot or not: Are fake accounts swaying voters towards Reform UK?
機器人與否：假帳號是否動搖了選民對英國改革黨的認同？
6/24
By Marianna Spring, Disinformation and social media correspondent
陌生字彙
sway v. 使移動，使改變
correspondent n. 記者
"Vote Reform UK", "Only Reform UK has a real plan for Britain" - an account on X has posted these and similar messages every couple of hours since the start of the election campaign.
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Reform UK n. 英國改革黨
election campaign n. 競選活動
Their behaviour has prompted claims from other social media users that they are fake - automated "bot" accounts - and they are distorting the online conversation to try to exaggerate the popularity of Reform UK.
陌生字彙
prompt v. 引起；導致；激起
distrote v. 歪曲，曲解
exaggerate v. 誇張;誇大;對…言過其實
The BBC contacted people behind the accounts and found that some are genuine UK voters who believe they are helping the party through their own initiative. Others, however, failed to prove they were authentic.
陌生字彙
genuine adj. 真正的；非僞造的；名副其實的
initiative n. 主動性;自主決斷行事的能力
authentic adj. 真的；真正的；可靠的；可信的
I spotted this pattern of comments in posts recommended to the feeds of our Undercover Voters - 24 fictional people based around the UK with social media accounts, created to investigate what content is recommended to different types of voters during the election. The profiles are private, with no friends. They just like, follow and watch relevant content.
陌生字彙
investigate v. （尤指為揭開真相）調查，審查
"The main purpose of my account at this time is to restore British culture and values," the GenZbloomer account told me in a message.
Following concerns about foreign interference in previous elections, some social media users have suggested that GenZbloomer - and other similar accounts - may not be based in the UK. They have pointed out phrases a native speaker would be unlikely to use, such as "make an article" instead of "write an article" and "neighbourhood tavern" instead of "local pub".
陌生字彙
interference n. 干涉，干預
phrase n. 片語
tavern n. 小酒店
Others are convinced the GenZbloomer profile must be parody - particularly referring to a blog post the account shared on X about how "young men are struggling out here to find traditional British women to date" because women think they are "better than everyone else because of Love Island and Starmer", referring to the Labour leader Sir Keir.
陌生字彙
convinced adj. 確信的，信服的
parody n. （幾近荒謬的）拙劣的模仿
refer to someone/something phrasal v. （尤指簡短地）提到，談及，談起
Labour Party n. 工黨
The person who claimed to be behind GenZbloomer told me they were based in "the Annesley England area" - an unusual way to describe the small village in Nottinghamshire - and gave me a UK mobile phone number.
They agreed to speak to me on the phone, but then did not answer any of my calls.
On WhatsApp, their account is labelled as a business account for a "consulting agency", and features a profile image of a faceless cartoon figure with a microphone headset on.
In messages with grammatical mistakes, they claimed to be a "generation Z voter" who wants a "proper Brexit but the conservatives party ruined".
陌生字彙
Brexit n. （英國脫離歐盟）退歐
conservative adj. 保守的;守舊的
The account claimed to be working "with Reform UK" in order to "help them win and spread their values across the UK".
The person who had been messaging me provided no evidence to support this claim - and a Reform UK spokesperson said this profile was not connected to the party at all. Reform UK told the BBC it had been in touch with social media companies about other accounts falsely purporting to be connected with the party.
Some responses to my messages from GenZbloomer sounded like parody - describing how they would have to speak to a Reform Party county organiser before they spoke to me, but adding that it "should not be an issue Reform has a super lax vetting process".
陌生字彙
lax adj. 馬虎的
vetting n. 審查; 仔細檢查
After a back-and-forth over text message, my phone number then appeared to have been blocked.
Since this article was first published, the GenZbloomer account has been suspended by X for violating its rules.
陌生字彙
suspend v. 停止，暫停，中止
Social media users now seem more likely to accuse other accounts of being bots - alleging they undermine trust and disrupt the online debate, even when some of these profiles turn out to be genuine.
陌生字彙
accuse v. 指控，控告;指責;譴責
allge v. （未經證實地）指責，宣稱，指控
undermine v. （常指逐漸地）削弱信心、權威等，損害
disrupt v. 打斷，中斷，擾亂
In the past decade, there have been documented attempts by hostile foreign powers, such as Russia, to sow division and promote particular points of view during Western elections. They have used networks of what social media firms call "inauthentic accounts" and what users call bots or "troll farms". Whether the actions of these accounts changed anyone’s mind is unclear.
陌生字彙
attempt v. （尤指為完成難事而進行）努力，嘗試
hostile adj. 不友好的，敵對的
sow v. 引起，導致;煽動
firm adj. 強而有力的；緊緊的，牢牢的
troll n. 網路怪論（某人留在互聯網上的言論，目的就是要激怒別人）
In recent weeks, Reform UK has seen a genuine rise in the polls - which may partly explain its growing role in the online conversation.
A spokesman for Reform UK told the BBC: "We are, of course, delighted about the organic growth of online support, but with that come some accounts that are not formally associated with the party, but actively subvert and lie about who we are."
陌生字彙
delighted adj. 令人高興的，使人愉快的，給人快樂的
subvert v. 破壞，動搖，顛覆（尤指已有的政治體制）
The spokesman said some people wrongly believe the only way others could end up supporting Reform UK was if they had been fooled in some way by the internet.
In total, I found more than 50 profiles that had the hallmarks of inauthentic accounts, posting in support of Reform UK across the different social media sites - although they could still have been genuine.
陌生字彙
hallmark n. 特徵，特點
These hallmarks can include a username and profile picture with no identifying features, no followers or seemingly real friends - and engaging entirely with political or divisive content, or reposting the same repetitive phrases.
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engaging adj. 令人愉快的;有吸引力的;迷人的
divisive adj. 有爭議的；引起分歧的
repetitive adj. （尤指以乏味的方式）重複的，反復的
Some had no posts of their own. Others, seemingly based outside the UK, previously posted about US politics and sports or animal cruelty before switching to Reform UK. Several had also shared conspiracy theory content about Covid-19 or posts opposing Ukraine and supporting Russia.
陌生字彙
cruelty n. 殘忍，殘酷;殘酷行爲;虐待
conspiracy n. 陰謀;密謀;謀劃
I have not found other accounts posting about other political parties in the same way - or being met with the same accusations.
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accusation n. 指控，控告;指責;譴責
Many of these accounts did not respond when I contacted them. But one called username341317847855 did. He said his name was Martin and he agreed to speak to me on the phone from the quiet of his van in London.
"Of course I'm a real person. I'm just fed up with the government. I'm fed up with MPs," he said. He made light of the bot claims, joking that I could call him "Martin the Bot" and telling me he was not worried that these accusations might undermine Reform UK’s social media posts.
陌生字彙
fed up adj. 厭倦的；厭煩的；失望的
MP(Member of Parliament) n. 下議院（或眾議院）議員
Martin said no political parties or users have encouraged him to post. He said he decided to vote for the first time in this election.
Several more of these accounts told me they were real people based in the UK, who were just sharing their political views. Some shared evidence with me to demonstrate this.
陌生字彙
demonstrate v. 顯示；表明
One account run by someone called Matt said: "I can assure you I'm not a bot. I'm politically homeless."
He said he was from Bury, was aged 46 and a welder by trade. He does not have any profile picture or posts on his TikTok account, only comments on the videos of others.
陌生字彙
welder n. 焊工
He told me that no political party or anyone else had instructed him to comment in support of Reform UK.
Matt said that when he saw the other profiles posting these comments similar to his on social media, it helped him and others realise "they are not the only ones who feel this way and have these views".
What Matt’s experience seems to show is that comments that boost the perceived support for a political party - whether they come from UK voters or inauthentic accounts - can embolden more real people to join in.
陌生字彙
perceive v. 認為;看待;視為
embolden v. 使有膽量
It is one more piece of evidence in this election that suggests individual social media users and anonymous accounts have the ability to shape the online conversation just as effectively as the content coming from the political parties themselves.
A TikTok spokesperson has previously told the BBC it has introduced "more policies to aggressively counter foreign election interference".
陌生字彙
aggressively adj. （治療）積極地
"Creating fake accounts or engaging in inauthentic activities goes against Meta's policies", a spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, told the BBC.
X, formerly Twitter, said they "remove accounts engaged in platform manipulation".
The Undercover Voters are fictional profiles designed to represent a range of voters in battleground constituencies across the UK. They follow, view and like content relevant to their character, informed by data and analysis from the National Centre for Social Research.
陌生字彙
constituency n. 選區
For this story, I examined the feeds of the profiles of some of these fictional voters in the constituency of Bridgend in Wales, which is currently held by the Conservatives and is a Labour target.
Gavin - a right-leaning voter in his 60s who has a strong interest in politics - has had content about Reform UK actively recommended to him across his social media feeds, including material with the alleged bot posts in the comments.
On the other hand, 72-year-old Eluned - a left-leaning Welsh Nationalist who is very supportive of the European Union - has been pushed several posts and comments from people concerned that these profiles supporting Reform are bots.
Lily, 18, is not really into politics. Her feed is filled with content about Taylor Swift.
心得
簡單來說，這篇新聞在講述的議題是有關社群媒體上的假帳號，會透過資訊混淆的方式或多或少影響選舉結果。
BBC 的記者有建立幾個虛擬的腳色，然後去觀察網路上的那些帳號們是否是真實的。有些是真的且有提供一些證據，有些則從無得知。
這篇新聞的主角—GenZbloomer，便是引導整篇文章的進入點，大家發現這個帳號不斷的在發一些「投給工黨」之類的推文，就覺得這個人肯定是假帳號。記者也有去聯繫這個宣稱是帳號背後的人，然後對方沒接他電話，我看到這裡直接笑出來。反正就是一個有很多疑點的帳號。
並且也有帶到俄羅斯的帳號再帶風向的紀錄，然後 TikTok 的發言人也有承諾要制定出更多的政策來避免這種事情的發生。
對於台灣人來說，從十年前很多政治人物就會開始用網軍帶動風向，從而影響民眾對於一件事情的看法，而且很有效果。而跟隨著網路科技的發達，現在要帶風向更是比以前更簡單有效，再加上台灣很多民眾都缺乏求證意識，很容易成為牆頭草。
而且台灣人是必須得更重視選舉以及網路風向的人。我們的國家存亡關乎於我們所選出的總統。而中共更是會有許多網軍在影響台灣的社群媒體，四處都是敵人。
而很明顯的不單單只有台灣，其他強權大國也飽受輿論的影響，包括這次的主角英國以及之前被影響的美國。那台灣人應該以此為警惕，避免在敵人還沒物理上的進攻前，我們的民心就被他們動搖，導致自己人內鬥被旁邊的收割。
一開始看到這篇新聞時以為會有更詳細的統計報導，但也只是淺淺帶過而已，反倒是文章中的很多單字都很特別，跟政治的相關領域的單字在課堂上比較少學到，算是學習到了。
