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‘It is unfortunate…’: Karnataka CM urges meta to act over faulty auto-translations on Facebook
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah criticized Facebook's auto-translation system after it falsely reported his death in a condolence message.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has raised serious concerns about Facebook's automatic translation system, particularly its Kannada-to-English translations, following a recent incident that led to public misunderstanding. He called on Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to implement more accurate and responsible translation tools, news agency ANI reported.
“Facebook has been in operation for nearly two decades and has a vast user base in India — including a large number of Kannada-speaking users. Despite this, it is unfortunate that a sound and reliable translation system has not been put in place. We hope this concern is taken seriously,” he wrote on social media site X.
READ | Meta apologises for Kannada translation that falsely declared Siddaramaiah dead
“I request everyone not to spread confusion or misinformation based on an error that did not originate from us. It is time Meta puts in place better and more responsible translation systems,” he added.
He also pointed out that similar auto-translation failures have caused controversy worldwide — in Myanmar (2018), Palestine (2017), and more recently in Malaysia (2024) — where poor translations sparked backlash and confusion.
READ | Meta apologises, says AI constantly learning as Karnataka CM flags translation flaw on Facebook
Why did CM Siddaramaiah raise concerns on auto-translation? Here's what actually happened
The issue came to light after a July 15 Facebook post from the official Chief Minister’s account — written in Kannada to pay respects to the late B. Saroja Devi — was incorrectly translated into English by Facebook’s auto-translate feature. This incorrect version appeared by default for some users, even though no English version had been posted or requested.
The auto-translation feature incorrectly translated the CM's condolence message and falsely reported his death instead.
READ | Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah calls out Meta for alleged faulty translation of Kannada
"The original Kannada post remains unchanged and can be viewed by selecting “See original" option. Following this, my Media Advisor Shri K V Prabhakar wrote to @Meta. They acknowledged the glitch, apologised, and claimed to have fixed the issue," he wrote in the post.
Meta then apologised to the CM and said the issue had been resolved.
