- State media adviser KV Prabhakar wrote to Meta urging immediate correction of translation errors
- Mr Prabhakar requested Meta to temporarily halt auto-translation for Kannada content until improved
- Meta urged to work with Kannada language experts to improve translation accuracy and context
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has flagged "faulty" auto translation of content from Kannada to English on Meta's platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and termed it "dangerous". He said the state government's media adviser KV Prabhakar has written to the company run by Mark Zuckerberg to make corrections immediately.
A Meta spokesperson said they have fixed an issue that briefly caused this inaccurate Kannada translation. "We apologise that this happened," the spokesperson said.
The media adviser told Meta to temporarily stop the auto-translation feature for Kannada content until translation accuracy is reliably improved.
The chief minister pointed out the faulty auto translation is "distorting facts and misleading users".
"Faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on Meta platforms are distorting facts and misleading users. This is especially dangerous when it comes to official communications. My media advisor KV Prabhakar has formally written to Meta urging immediate correction," Siddaramaiah said.
"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," he added.
Faulty auto-translation of Kannada content on @Meta platforms is distorting facts & misleading users. This is especially dangerous when it comes to official communications.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) July 17, 2025
My Media Advisor Shri K V Prabhakar has formally written to Meta urging immediate correction.
Social... pic.twitter.com/tJBp38wcHr
In the email sent to Meta on July 16, the state media adviser raised concerns on behalf of the chief minister over the "faulty" content translation from Kannada to English, especially on Facebook and Instagram.
"We have noted with concern that the auto-translation from Kannada to English is frequently inaccurate and, in some cases, grossly misleading," Mr Prabhakar wrote.
"This poses a significant risk, especially when public communication, official statements, or important messages from the chief minister and the government are incorrectly translated. 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," he said.
Given the sensitivity of public communication, especially from a constitutional authority like the chief minister, such misrepresentations caused by flawed translation tools are unacceptable, Mr Prabhakar said.
He asked Meta to collaborate with Kannada language experts and linguistic professionals to enhance the quality and contextual accuracy of translations between Kannada and English.
Machine translations are shown to users in various instances on Facebook and Instagram, including public biographical info and specific pieces of content, according to Meta. AI models, in this case Meta's machine translation model, provided a machine translation error which caused inaccurate Kannada translations on Facebook.
"We implemented a fix to ensure greater accuracy. We have provided machine translation on Facebook and Instagram for years and we are continuously gathering feedback in order to improve the technology and help the machine translation model learn to generate more accurate information," the spokesperson said.
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