滴滴順風(fēng)車丑聞會讓中國科技公司開始反思自己嗎？

Huang Jieli, who ran a Chinese ride-sharing business called Hitch, was invited to a wedding in March. One of her drivers was getting married to a woman who had once been his passenger. Thanks, the invitation said, for getting them hitched.

3月，中國共享出行業(yè)務(wù)“滴滴順風(fēng)車”的高管黃潔莉受邀參加了一場婚禮。使用這款軟件的一位司機(jī)娶了自己的乘客。邀請中說，感謝順風(fēng)車讓他們相識。

Didi Chuxing, Hitch’s corporate parent and one of the world’s most successful and valuable start-ups, once cheered these stories of young love. Like so many other Chinese internet companies, Didi explored all kinds of ways to bring in new users, including social networking.

順風(fēng)車的母公司滴滴出行是世界上最成功、最有價值的初創(chuàng)公司之一，它曾為這種年輕人的愛情故事歡呼。與其他很多中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司一樣，滴滴也千方百計地吸引年輕用戶，包括使用社交媒體。

So through suggestive ads hinting at hookups through driving, Didi pushed Hitch’s romantic possibilities. In a 2015 interview with the Chinese online portal NetEase, Ms. Huang compared Hitch cars to cafes and bars.

所以，滴滴推出暗示性的廣告，示意可以通過搭車來互相勾搭，宣傳搭乘順風(fēng)車有浪漫的可能。2015年，在接受中國門戶網(wǎng)站網(wǎng)易采訪時，黃潔莉?qū)㈨橈L(fēng)車與咖啡館和酒吧相提并論。

“It’s a very futuristic and very sexy scenario,” she told NetEase.

“滴滴順風(fēng)車是一個非常具有未來感、非常sexy的場景，”她告訴網(wǎng)易。

Today, that attitude looks careless and incompetent. Two female Hitch passengers in the past three months have been raped and killed by their Hitch drivers, according to the police. Now Ms. Huang is out of a job, Didi is pledging to overhaul its business, Chinese consumers are calling for a boycott and the internet industry is getting a much-needed reminder of the consequences of its actions.

如今，這種態(tài)度顯得粗心又無能。據(jù)警方稱，過去三個月中，有兩名搭乘順風(fēng)車的女性被司機(jī)強(qiáng)奸和殺害?，F(xiàn)在黃潔莉已經(jīng)離職，滴滴承諾改革其業(yè)務(wù)，中國消費(fèi)者呼吁抵制該公司，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)得到一個非常必要的提醒，去思考其行動所帶來的后果。

It’s a rare moment of self-reflection in China’s internet industry, which has grown to rival Silicon Valley in both size and influence. Two Chinese companies, Tencent and Alibaba, rank among the top 10 publicly listed companies in the world in valuation. Four of the 10 most valuable start-ups are from China, according to CBInsights. One of them is Didi, which ranks second only to Uber.

中國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)在規(guī)模和影響力方面已經(jīng)堪與硅谷競爭，這是它罕見的自我反思時刻。騰訊和阿里巴巴兩家中國公司在估值方面躋身全球十大上市公司之列。根據(jù)CBInsights的數(shù)據(jù)，10家最有價值的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)中有四家來自中國。其中一個就是滴滴，它僅次于優(yōu)步(Uber)。

The problems aren’t unique to China. Uber has grappled with its own safety issues, while Facebook has belatedly come to terms with how its reach can be misused and abused.

這些問題并非中國獨(dú)有。優(yōu)步也在努力解決自身的安全問題，而Facebook則遲遲才承認(rèn)自己的影響力可能遭到誤用和濫用。

But the potential for abuse in China is severe. Corporations are subject to little scrutiny from state-controlled media until problems spin out of control. Spotty enforcement and slow lawmaking leave the public less protected from exploitation. Chinese people are fixated on their phones, spending four more hours on average a week online than Americans. The industry’s extreme growth — the number of internet users has doubled, to 800 million, in eight short years — has created a culture in which companies prize money over users’ well-being.

但在中國，遭到濫用的可能性非常大。在問題失控之前，公司很少受到政府控制的媒體的審查。執(zhí)法不力和立法緩慢使公眾面對公司剝削時，難以受到保護(hù)。中國人沉迷于手機(jī)，平均每周在網(wǎng)上花費(fèi)的時間比美國人多4個小時?；ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)用戶數(shù)量翻了一番，在短短8年內(nèi)增加了8億，該行業(yè)的極端增長創(chuàng)造了一種文化，在這種文化里，公司把金錢放在用戶的利益之上。

Didi itself admitted this week that it had lost its way. In a statement on Tuesday, it said it would stop using scale and growth to measure its success.

滴滴于本周承認(rèn)，自己已經(jīng)迷失了方向。在周二的一份聲明中，它表示將不再用規(guī)模和增長來衡量成功。

“In the past few years we forged ahead wildly, riding on aggressive business strategies and the power of capital,” the company said in the statement from Cheng Wei, its chief executive, and Jean Liu, its president. In the face of lost lives, the statement said, “the whole company started to question whether we have the right value system.”

該公司首席執(zhí)行官程維和總裁柳青在聲明中表示，“在短短幾年里，我們靠著激進(jìn)的業(yè)務(wù)策略和資本的力量一路狂奔。”聲明說，面對失去的生命，“全公司開始深刻檢視甚至質(zhì)疑我們的價值觀是不是正確的。”

The Chinese public has asked similar questions. In the aftermath of the two assaults, Chinese media has uncovered dozens of others over the years. It also found past advertisements for Hitch that featured lewd double entendres and other language that could suggest a female passenger might welcome an advance from her male driver.

中國公眾也提出了類似的問題。在這兩起襲擊事件發(fā)生后，中國媒體還發(fā)現(xiàn)了幾年來其他幾十起襲擊事件。它還發(fā)現(xiàn)，過去順風(fēng)車的廣告中有猥褻雙關(guān)語和其他暗示女乘客可能會歡迎男司機(jī)挑逗的語言。

“Truly disgusting, despicable marketing for Didi Hitch that’s all sexual innuendo and all about ‘picking up’ girls,” said Rui Ma, a technology investor who works in both Silicon Valley and China, on Twitter. She added, “Didi are you running a service for sexual predators or a ride hailing app?!”

“對于滴滴順風(fēng)車來說，真正令人作嘔的卑鄙營銷是那些性暗示，以及所有關(guān)于‘勾搭’女孩的事情，”在硅谷和中國工作的技術(shù)投資人馬睿在推特上說。她還說，“滴滴，你是在為性掠奪者提供服務(wù)還是經(jīng)營打車應(yīng)用程序?!”

While it wasn’t obvious to female passengers that their drivers might want to hook up, the drivers knew. Until Didi deactivated Hitch, the car-pooling service allowed drivers to share comments with other drivers on the looks of their passengers, leading some male drivers to seek out the ones others had declared attractive.

盡管對女性乘客來說，司機(jī)想要勾搭這件事并不明顯，但司機(jī)們心知肚明。在滴滴下線順風(fēng)車之前，這個拼車服務(wù)會允許司機(jī)與其他司機(jī)分享對乘客外表的評價，導(dǎo)致一些男性司機(jī)去找那些其他人說有魅力的女性。

The problem goes well beyond Didi. China has grown so fast that many facets of life — shopping, online banking, transportation — lack the sort of established incumbents common in the West. Tech companies can swoop in and become dominant in those areas. That makes Chinese companies appealing to investors. It also makes them potentially dangerous.

這個問題遠(yuǎn)超越了滴滴。中國發(fā)展得如此之快，生活的許多方面——購物、網(wǎng)上銀行、交通——都缺乏老牌企業(yè)，就像西方常見的那樣?？萍脊镜靡猿颂摱?，在這些領(lǐng)域成為主導(dǎo)力量。這讓中國公司對投資者來說頗具吸引力，也讓它們具有潛在危險。

My conversations with Chinese tech companies and their investors, including some from the United States, revolve around user growth and the amount of time they can keep users glued to apps. On occasion I asked why they lent their technology to the government for surveillance, or what they thought the social impact might be from the videos, games and endless feeds of mind-numbing information they send to the public. They either gave me blank stares or said their technologies were merely neutral tools.

我與中國科技公司及投資者(包括一些來自美國的投資者)的談話，圍繞著用戶增長和它們能讓用戶粘在應(yīng)用程序上的時間。有時我會詢問為什么他們把自己的技術(shù)借給政府用于監(jiān)控，或是問他們對發(fā)給公眾的視頻、游戲和那些無窮無盡麻痹人大腦的信息對社會造成的影響作何感想。他們要么是茫然地望著我，要么就說他們的技術(shù)只是中立的工具。

Some in China are comparing Didi’s problems to Baidu’s. Sometimes known as the Google of China, Baidu dominates the search business in the country. Two years ago the company was harshly criticized for foisting ads for fake medical treatments on the public. Baidu apologized after each incident came to light, but some Chinese users are still angry at the company.

中國一些人正在把滴滴的問題與百度的問題相提并論。百度有時被稱為中國的谷歌，它主導(dǎo)著中國的搜索業(yè)務(wù)。兩年前，這家公司由于向公眾強(qiáng)行推廣虛假醫(yī)療廣告而遭到嚴(yán)厲批評。每次事件曝光后，百度都作出道歉，但一些中國用戶仍對這家公司感到憤怒。

“No matter how we complain or criticize, bad companies, be it Didi or Baidu, simply won’t change,” Ye Ying, editor of The Art Newspaper China, wrote on her WeChat timeline. “I’ve stopped using Baidu long time ago. Should I delete the Didi app as well?”

“無論抱怨還是譴責(zé)，壞公司依然如故，滴滴、百度莫不如此，”《藝術(shù)新聞》中文版主編葉瀅在微信朋友圈中寫道。“百度早就不用了，滴滴也卸載了嗎?”

The scandal also exposes a wider industry problem with sexism. Tencent apologized last year after a video emerged of a corporate event that featured female employees trying to open water bottles tucked between men’s legs. Two years ago, Alibaba’s finance affiliate, Ant Financial, pulled a new social feature on its app that led to women posting suggestive photos of themselves to attract rich men. Some tech companies have posted job ads only for men. One of them was Didi.

這場丑聞也暴露了一個更廣泛的行業(yè)性別歧視問題。去年，在一則顯示女員工嘗試打開夾在男性雙腿間水瓶的年會視頻浮出水面后，騰訊作出道歉。兩年前，阿里巴巴下屬的螞蟻金服撤下了應(yīng)用程序上的一個社交功能，該功能會讓女性發(fā)布自己帶有暗示性的照片，吸引有錢男性。一些科技公司發(fā)布的招聘廣告僅招男性，其中就包括滴滴。

Even with women in top jobs, the industry can’t seem to shake the attitude. Ms. Liu is probably China’s most prominent female technology executive.

即使是有女性高層，這個行業(yè)似乎仍然無法甩掉這種態(tài)度。柳青可能是中國最有影響力的女科技高管。

Hitch’s suggestive strategy was overseen by Ms. Huang. In one corporate video the company compared her to Hua Mulan, the female warrior of ancient China, and promoted her as a skilled executor of the company’s vision. The video’s English title is “Lean In, Jelly,” using her English name.

順風(fēng)車暗示性的策略由黃潔麗負(fù)責(zé)。在一則企業(yè)視頻中，這家公司將她比做中國古代女戰(zhàn)士花木蘭，并且將她作為公司愿景經(jīng)驗豐富的執(zhí)行者進(jìn)行宣傳。這則視頻的英文標(biāo)題是“Lean In, Jelly”(向前一步，杰利)，用了她的英文名。

The question now is whether Didi, and executives in the rest of the industry, can root out those attitudes to protect users.

如今問題在于，滴滴和這個行業(yè)的其他高管是否能根除這些成見，保護(hù)用戶。

“Without the interference of a value system, the vast majority of them will choose their job performances over users’ safety,” wrote Feng Dahui, a former Alibaba executive and industry critic, in a WeChat post. “This is the ethical dilemma of most internet elites.”

“沒有價值觀層面的干預(yù)，絕大多數(shù)人會選擇完成自己的KPI，用戶死活跟他個人沒關(guān)系，”前阿里巴巴高管、行業(yè)批評者馮大輝在微信上寫道。“這是中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)行業(yè)大多數(shù)精英的道德困境。”