Meta Apologizes After Faulty Kannada Translation Declares CM Siddaramaiah Dead
Social media giant Meta has issued an official apology after its automatic translation tool mistakenly claimed that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had passed away, following a condolence message posted by the Chief Minister’s Office in Kannada.
Bengaluru: Social media giant Meta has issued an official apology after its automatic translation tool mistakenly claimed that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had passed away, following a condolence message posted by the Chief Minister’s Office in Kannada.
On Tuesday, CM Siddaramaiah shared a tribute on Facebook and Instagram mourning the death of veteran Indian actress B. Saroja Devi. However, Meta’s English auto-translation of the post shockingly read:
“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 major error caused confusion and concern among social media users.
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Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, CM Siddaramaiah strongly criticized Meta, stating:
“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 explained that Facebook’s auto-translation feature cannot be turned off by content creators, and that such inaccurate translations can lead to serious misunderstandings.
CM Siddaramaiah revealed that his Media Advisor K V Prabhakar had written a formal complaint to Meta, demanding immediate action.
He warned citizens to stay cautious while reading translated posts online, adding:
“Such negligence by tech giants can harm public understanding and trust.”
In response, Meta acknowledged the technical fault, admitted its AI-powered translation model had malfunctioned, and confirmed that the issue has now been rectified. The Chief Minister’s Office later confirmed Meta’s apology and reassured the public that corrections had been made.
As AI tools become more common in translating content across languages, accuracy and accountability are critical. This incident serves as a reminder for tech companies to invest in better linguistic models—especially for regional Indian languages like Kannada.
