Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah has slammed Meta for its inaccurate automatic translation of Kannada content on its Facebook and Instagram apps, saying it distorts facts and misleads users.
In a post on the X platform, Siddaramaiah said the faulty auto-translation feature on Meta platforms is especially dangerous when it comes to official government communication.
He warned that such negligence by tech giants could harm public understanding and trust, and cautioned citizens to be aware that these translations are often inaccurate.
"We fixed an issue that briefly caused this inaccurate Kannada translation. We apologise that this happened." said a Meta Spokesperson in a statement to Moneycontrol .
His media adviser KV Prabhakar has written to Meta India, urging immediate corrective measures.
The Kannada to English translations are frequently inaccurate and, in some cases, grossly misleading, he said in his letter.
When official statements or public messages from the chief minister are mistranslated, it can result in serious misinterpretation by users, many of whom may not realise that they are reading an auto generated translation and not the original message.
Prabhakar said such misrepresentation, particularly when it involves communication from a constitutional authority like the chief minister, is unacceptable.
On behalf of Siddaramaiah, he urged Meta to temporarily suspend the auto-translation feature for Kannada content until its accuracy can be reliably improved. He also called on the company to work with qualified Kannada language experts to enhance the contextual quality of translations.
The letter concluded by asking Meta to treat the matter with urgency and to enlist steps being taken to resolve the issue.
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