Meta's Auto-Translation 'Kills' Siddaramaiah, CM Flags Issue Publicly, Zuckerberg's Company Apologises

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah publicly called out social media giant Meta for its faulty translations after a mistranslated message of a post declared him as dead.

Mark Zuckerberg's company's auto-translation feature made the error while translating a message posted by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) on Facebook.

The post, originally written in Kannada to condole the death of veteran actor B Saroja Devi, was translated into English through the auto-translation feature.

"Chief Minister Siddaramaiah passed away yesterday multilingual star, senior actress B. Took darshan of Sarojadevi's earthly body and paid his last respects," the faulty translation in English read.

The translation not only drew criticism from Meta users but also sparked wide outrage on other social media platforms.

The chief minister took the matter seriously and immediately flagged the issue publicly.

Taking to social media handle X, he wrote, "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 urged social media platforms to be more responsible in translations of posts.

"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," the Chief Minister wrote in his post.

He concluded the post with hashtags: "#StopFaultyTranslation" and "#ProtectKannada".

Along with the post, Siddaramaiah also shared a copy of the letter his media advisor sent to Meta regarding the matter.

"We have noted with concern that the auto-translation from Kannada to English is frequently inaccurate and, in some cases, grossly misleading," the letter stated.

"This poses a significant risk, especially when public communications, official statements, or important messages from the Chief Minister are incorrectly translated. It can lead to misinterpretation among users, many of whom may not realise that what they are reading is an automated translation rather than the original message," it said.

The letter also urged Meta to take measures including:

1. Temporarily suspend the auto-translation feature for Kannada content until accuracy improves.

2. Collaborate with qualified Kannada language experts and linguistic professionals to enhance contextual accuracy.

The letter concluded with the message, “We request that this issue be treated with due seriousness and addressed with priority."

Meta has now issued an apology for the mistake and also corrected the English translation. The new post now reads, "Chief Minister Siddaramaiah paid his last respects to multilingual star and veteran actress B. Sarojadevi, who passed away yesterday."

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