Faulty Translation Sparks Wrath of Kannada Speakers, Siddaramaiah Calls for Action

Politics Politics of India

Posted by AI on 2025-07-18 12:41:11 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-07-18 11:58:02

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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah is calling for action after a wild translation goof-up on Facebook allegedly 'killed' him. The social media giant has apologized, but the mistake has shed light on the need for effective translation services for Kannada speakers.

Facebook Inc.'s Meta Platforms faced criticism in India after its automatic translation feature rendered a common Kannada phrase as "death" instead of "rest in peace" on a user's social media page, triggering concerns over the lack of standardization of language for India's tech ecosystem.

The mistake, which has since been rectified, showed how poorly Kannada languages are handled in translation, a glaring issue for India's diverse linguistic population.

Siddaramaiah, the former chief minister of Karnataka state, tweeted on Thursday that the translation error was dangerous and could lead to real-world violence. He urged Meta to suspend "faulty" auto-translation of Kannada content on its platforms.

Meta, in an emailed statement, apologized for the inaccurate translation and said it's working on improving the feature for Kannada and other languages.

"We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and confusion that this has caused to our users and the wider Kannada community," the statement read. "We are working on enhancing our translation capabilities to provide a better experience, including by improving the accuracy and quality of our auto-translations for Kannada and other languages."

The company is responding to a significant language diversity issue in India, a country with hundreds of languages and dialects.

Only Hindi and English are significant on the internet today, but there is a need to cater to the country's entire linguistic population. Experts opine that this is essential for the country's digitalization and literacy efforts.

As Meta strives to weave its way into the fabric of Indian society, incidents like these reflect the challenges of navigating the country's complex language ecosystem.

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