在Facebook成为亿万富翁的他，为何与“金主”为敌

As Silicon Valley experiences a wave of criticism, even some former colleagues are becoming adversaries.

随着硅谷陷入批评的浪潮，就连一些前同事也变成了对手。

Another prominent skeptic spoke out this week, as a creator of one of Facebook’s top products waded into criticism of the internet giant.

又一位持怀疑态度的名人在本周发声。Facebook顶级产品之一的创始人加入了抨击这家互联网巨头的行列。

“It is time. #deletefacebook,” wrote Brian Acton, one of the founders of WhatsApp, wrote on Twitter. His company was bought by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014. The deal made him a billionaire.

“是时候了。#deletefacebook(#删除facebook)，”WhatsApp的创始人之一布莱恩·阿克顿(Brian Acton)在Twitter上写道。2014年，Facebook出价190亿美元(约合1200亿元人民币)收购了他的公司。这笔交易让他成为亿万富翁。

Mr. Acton’s anti-Facebook message, retweeted more than 10,000 times, captured a moment in the tech industry when even some of its best-known people are publicly calling for change. The chorus has grown louder this week, as Facebook faces questions over how it allowed a political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, to obtain data on 50 million users.

阿克顿这条反Facebook的推文被转发了超过一万次。它抓住了科技行业一些最负盛名者也在公开呼吁变革的时刻。本周，随着外界质疑Facebook是如何让政治咨询公司剑桥分析(Cambridge Analytica)得以获取5000万用户的数据，一致的呼声更高了。

“The question is, ‘What are you loyal to?’” said Tristan Harris, a former Google employee who has started The Center for Humane Technology, an organization for Silicon Valley workers who want to change corporate culture. He has been critical of social media companies for creating addictive products that inflame cultural tensions.

“问题是，‘你忠于什么?’”曾在谷歌(Google)任职，后来创立人道技术中心(Center for Humane Technology)，为希望改变企业文化的硅谷员工服务的特里斯坦·哈里斯(Tristan Harris)说。他一直批评社交媒体公司开发的产品会让人上瘾，加剧文化对立。

“Are you more loyal to your company,” Mr. Harris said. “Or are you more loyal to protecting the fabric of our society?”

“你是更忠于公司，”哈里斯说。“还是更忠于保护我们这个社会的基本结构?”

The tech defections have accelerated in recent months, especially for Facebook.

最近几个月，科技业内人士反水的现象加剧，对Facebook来说尤其如此。

Justin Rosenstein, the creator of the Facebook “like” button, deleted the product from his phone and spoke out about the industry using psychologically manipulative advertising. Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook’s former head of user growth, said in December that the company was “ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.” And Sandy Parakilas, a former Facebook platform operations manager, wrote on Tuesday in The Washington Post that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, must “be held accountable for the negligence of his company.”

为Facebook开发出了点赞按钮的贾斯汀·罗森斯坦(justin Rosenstein)从手机上删除了Facebook，并公开谈及这个行业如何使用操纵受众心理的广告。Facebook前用户增长事务负责人查马斯·帕里哈皮蒂亚(Chamath Palihapitiya)在12月表示，Facebook“撕裂了社会运转的基本结构”。前Facebook平台运营经理桑迪·帕拉吉拉斯(Sandy Parakilas)周二在《华盛顿邮报》(The Washington Post)上撰文称，必须让Facebook首席执行官马克·扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)“为他公司的疏忽负责”。

Loyalty to a company is beginning to crack because many tech workers are being asked to build or defend products they question, Mr. Harris said. His center is making resources for engineers on how to build more ethical products and starting an educational campaign, called “The Truth About Tech,” in 55,000 American schools.

哈里斯说，对公司的忠诚开始出现裂痕，因为很多科技从业者被要求发展或保护他们质疑的产品。他的人道技术中心正就如何开发更合乎道德的产品为工程师提供资源，并在美国5.5万所学校发起了一场名为“技术的真相”(The Truth About Tech)的教育活动。

“More people are speaking up because they feel like they’ve been told lies,” Mr. Harris said. “You can’t just repeat, ‘We’re making the world more open’ over and over and over again while democracy is burning.”

“发声的人增加了，因为他们觉得自己被骗了，”哈里斯说。“你不能只是一遍又一遍地重复，‘我们让世界变得更加开放’，而民主却在遭受损失。”

Silicon Valley companies have long prized secrecy and loyalty among their workers, who often exercise, play sports and eat three meals a day together. Facebook especially is known for its tight-knit community. Each employee has an annual “Faceversary” on his or her hire date, a ritual that within the company is seen as deeply meaningful and is usually accompanied by balloons.

硅谷的公司向来重视员工之间的保密和忠诚。他们经常是锻炼、运动和一日三餐都在一起。Facebook尤其以关系紧密的团体而闻名。每个员工每年都会庆祝自己受雇于Facebook的周年纪念日。在Facebook，这个惯例被认为意义深刻，现场通常会有气球。

“Until very recently, it was taken as a given that tech equaled progress and tech equaled good and tech equaled economic strength,” said Leslie Berlin, the author of Troublemakers, a history of Silicon Valley.

“直到前不久，还有人想当然地认为科技等于进步，科技等于美好，科技等于经济实力，”讲述硅谷历史的《麻烦制造者》(Troublemakers)的作者莱斯莉·柏林(Leslie Berlin)说。

She said the defections she sees now are historically unique.

她说，她现在看到的反水现象在历史上独一无二。

“The Valley was founded on this notion of, ‘We’re very open,’ ” Ms. Berlin said. “But the secrecy has always been there.”

“硅谷是建立在‘我们非常开放’这个概念上的，”柏林说。“但秘密一直都在。”

“It’s been pretty much a straight line since the start of the Cold War until now,” she said. “This is something new.”

“从冷战开始到现在，硅谷的发展几乎是一条直线，”她说。“这是新情况。”

Employees may feel the freedom to rebel because of Silicon Valley’s success, both technologically and financially. The technology platforms have become more powerful — and the fortunes much bigger — than the programmers ever expected. So while the industry’s power disturbs them, the wealth allows them to speak out without fear of retribution, Ms. Berlin said.

因为硅谷从技术上和经济上取得的成功，员工们可能会觉得自己有反抗的自由。技术平台的力量比程序员们之前以为的大，财富更是远超他们的想象。柏林说，因此尽管这个行业的力量让他们感到不安，但财富让他们能够畅所欲言，不用害怕遭到报复。

“It’s the shadow of the success,” she said. “You have to understand them together.”

“这是成功的阴影，”她说。“这些情况必须放在一起了解。”

Certainly, not everyone is critical. Mr. Acton’s WhatsApp co-founder, Jan Koum, is on the Facebook board of directors and remains deeply active on the platform, regularly posting pro-President Trump and anti-immigration news.

当然，不是所有人都持批评意见。和阿克顿一起创办了WhatsApp的扬·库姆(Jan Koum)是Facebook的董事会成员。他在该平台上依然非常活跃，经常发布支持特朗普总统和反对移民的消息。

And when former leaders have spoken out with criticisms of Facebook, the company has often responded aggressively.

一旦有前高管公开批评Facebook，该公司常会做出激烈的回应。

“They do yell,” said Roger McNamee, an early investor and adviser to Mark Zuckerberg, referring to Facebook leadership’s approach.

“他们的确会大喊大叫，”马克·扎克伯格的早期投资者兼顾问罗杰·麦克奈米(Roger McNamee)说。他指的是Facebook领导层的应对方式。

But the culture of fear that the company has fostered among employees is not working anymore, he said.

但他说，Facebook在员工中培养的恐惧文化已经不起作用了。

"Facebook is at one of those moments where everybody who works there has to ask which side of history do you want to be on,” Mr. McNamee said. “The facts are not only indisputable, they’re not even complete. It’s going to get worse.”

“Facebook正处在这样一个时刻，在那里工作的每一个人都不得不问，你要站在历史的哪一边，”麦克奈米说。“事实不只无法争辩，而且还不完整。情况会变得更加糟糕。”