Meta auto-translation goof-up declares Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah dead

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is furious with Meta for a grave mistake it made while translating a condolence message posted by the CMO. The platform's auto-translation tool translated the message to say in English that Siddaramaiah had passed away. He has now asked Meta to suspend its Kannada auto-translation feature. The Chief Minister's Office posted in Kannada on Facebook and Instagram a condolence message, mourning the death of veteran actress B Sarojadevi. The auto-translation tool changed it to, “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah passed away yesterday multilingual star, senior actress B. Took darshan of Sarojadevi's earthly body and paid his last respects. The translation also didn't make any sense. Siddaramaiah could not believe the mistake the platform had made. He shared on X that his media adviser has reached out to Meta about the error.

He wrote in English, "Faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on Meta platforms is distorting facts & misleading users. This is especially dangerous when it comes to official communications." He added that his media advisor, Shri K V Prabhakar has "formally written to Meta urging immediate correction." Siddaramaiah also cautioned the general public about the translations and flagged the dangers such mistakes pose. "Social media platforms must act responsibly. I caution citizens to be aware that translations shown are often inaccurate. Such negligence by tech giants can harm public understanding & trust," he wrote.

The CMO has sent an email to Meta to look into the matter. It has also asked the platform to halt Kannada auto-translation services and investigate the problems with it. It asked Meta to be completely sure of its efficiency before restarting it. The CMO also urged Meta to collaborate with Kannada language experts and professionals to ensure the translation from Kannada to English are contextually accurate. Prabhakar raised concerns about the service making errors, saying that many people might not realise that the translated message is not the same as the original message. This could cause confusion, especially in public communication.