Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 19 (ANI): Raising concerns over automatic translation on Facebook, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stated that poor translations have been a cause of miscommunication and public backlash, urging that the issue be taken seriously.
“It is time Meta puts in place better and more responsible translation systems,” the Karnataka CM posted on X.
“Meta/Facebook has often previously faced similar issues globally for such auto-translation errors — including in Myanmar (2018), Palestine (2017), and most recently in Malaysia (2024) — where poor translations led to serious miscommunication and public backlash,” he added.
Siddaramaiah demanded that a responsible translation system be established for users on Facebook to avoid mistranslations of regional languages, including Kannada.
“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 added.
His remarks come after Facebook’s auto-translation feature mistranslated one of his posts on Facebook.
“On July 15, I paid my respects to the mortal remains of the late B. Saroja Devi – a moment of deep personal and public sorrow. A post about this was shared in Kannada from the official Chief Minister of Karnataka Facebook page. Unfortunately, some people saw a wrong English translation of that post by default on their Facebook feed. The post was written only in Kannada. No English version was posted, and no auto-translation was added or requested from our side,” Siddaramaiah informed.
He said that Facebook doesn’t provide avenues to content creators to manage the auto-translation feature for their posts.
“Facebook’s translation feature shows up on user feeds based on their settings, and content creators have no way to disable or control the auto-translation feature on viewers feed. In many cases, Facebook shows auto-translated versions of posts by default in user feeds. The original Kannada post remains unchanged and can be viewed by selecting ‘See original’ option,” Siddaramaiah said.
The Chief Minister added that his Media Advisor has also formally written to Meta regarding the situation.
“My Media Advisor has formally written to Meta urging immediate correction. 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.
Meanwhile, a formal complaint has been sent by KV Prabhakar, Media Advisor to the Chief Minister, via email to Meta’s India team. The letter noted that Kannada-to-English translations on Meta platforms are often “frequently inaccurate and, in some cases, grossly misleading.”
The email read, “We have noted with concern that the auto-translation from Kannada to English is frequently inaccurate and, in some cases, grossly misleading. This poses a significant risk, especially when public communications, official statements, or important messages from the Chief Minister and the Government are incorrectly translated.”
It continued, “It can lead to misinterpretation among users, many of whom may not realise that what they are reading is an automated and faulty translation rather than the original message.”
Subsequently, Prabhakar urged Meta to temporarily suspend the auto-translation feature for Kannada content, citing the sensitivity of public communication from constitutional functionaries, such as the Chief Minister.
The letter reads, “Given the sensitivity of public communication, especially from a constitutional functionary like the Chief Minister, such misrepresentations due to flawed translation mechanisms are unacceptable. On behalf of the Chief Minister, we urge Meta to temporarily suspend the auto-translation feature for Kannada content until the translation accuracy is reliably improved and collaborate with qualified Kannada language experts and linguistic professionals to enhance the quality and contextual accuracy of translations between Kannada and English.” (ANI)
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