In a recent incident that has drawn significant attention, Meta, the social media giant, faced backlash after its automatic translation tool inaccurately translated a condolence message, leading to a major misunderstanding. The error occurred when the tool mistakenly declared Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as deceased while translating a message originally posted in Kannada by the Karnataka Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on Facebook. The message was intended to express condolences for the passing of the esteemed Indian actress B. Saroja Devi.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shared a heartfelt condolence message on both Facebook and Instagram, mourning the loss of B. Saroja Devi. However, the English translation generated by Meta's AI-powered tool erroneously stated, "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah passed away yesterday multilingual star, senior actress B. Took darshan of Saroja Devi's earthly body and paid his last respects." This translation error quickly caught the attention of users, leading to confusion and concern across social media platforms.
Meta's translation tools, widely used across Facebook and Instagram for translating public bios and content, were at the center of this mishap. The company acknowledged the error, admitting that its machine translation model had produced inaccuracies in the Kannada translations on Facebook. In response to the incident, Meta issued an apology and assured that the technical issue had been resolved. The Chief Minister's Office confirmed Meta's acknowledgment and apology, emphasizing the need for accurate translations in official communications.
The incident prompted Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to express his concerns on social media. On Thursday, he posted, "Faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on Meta platforms is distorting facts and misleading users. This is especially dangerous when it comes to official communications."
He further elaborated on the issue, highlighting that Facebook often displays auto-translated versions of posts by default in user feeds, while the original Kannada post remains unchanged and can be viewed by selecting the 'See original' option.
Siddaramaiah emphasized the potential dangers of such translation errors, particularly in the context of official communications. He pointed out that content creators have no control over the auto-translation feature on viewers' feeds, which can lead to misunderstandings and misinformation. In response to the incident, Siddaramaiah's Media Advisor, K V Prabhakar, formally wrote to Meta, urging immediate corrective measures. The Chief Minister also cautioned citizens to be aware of the inaccuracies that can arise from automated translations, stressing the importance of responsible actions by social media platforms.
The Chief Minister's Office, in a subsequent post, reiterated Meta's apology and the company's claim that the technical issue had been addressed. The incident has raised questions about the reliability of AI-powered translation tools and the potential consequences of errors in official communications. This incident is not the first time that translation tools have led to misunderstandings, highlighting the challenges of accurately translating content across different languages and cultural contexts.
