Social media giant Meta on Thursday apologised and said it has fixed an issue related to inaccurate Kannada translation on its platforms after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah raised serious concerns about misleading content.
Raising alarm over the problem, Siddaramaiah said faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on Facebook and Instagram was distorting facts and potentially misleading users.
“We fixed an issue that briefly caused this inaccurate Kannada translation. We apologize that this happened,” a Meta spokesperson said, as per PTI.
In a post on X, Siddaramaiah wrote: “Faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on Meta platforms is distorting facts and misleading users. This is especially dangerous when it comes to official communication. My media advisor has formally written to Meta urging immediate correction.”
He added: “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 and trust.”
Faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on @Meta platforms is distorting facts & misleading users. This is especially dangerous when it comes to official communications.
My Media Advisor Shri K V Prabhakar has formally written to Meta urging immediate correction.
Social… pic.twitter.com/tJBp38wcHr
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) July 17, 2025
As per the report by PTI, the chief minister’s media advisor, K V Prabhakar, emailed Meta on July 16 urging immediate action and raised concerns over the automatic translation of Kannada content, especially in official communication.
The Karnataka government has asked Meta to temporarily suspend the auto-translation feature for Kannada content until translation accuracy is reliably improved.
Machine translations are commonly shown to users on Facebook and Instagram, including in public biographical info and specific posts.
