July 19, 2025: Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has issued an apology after an auto-translation error falsely reported the death of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The mistake occurred when the Chief Minister’s condolence message for actor B. Sarojadevi was incorrectly translated on Meta’s platforms.
The Chief Minister’s Office had shared Siddaramaiah’s tribute to the veteran actress on Facebook, but the auto-translation rendered the message as: “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah passed away yesterday multilingual star, senior actress B Took darshan of Sarojadevi’s earthly body and paid his last respects,” implying that Siddaramaiah himself had died.
Following this serious error, K. V. Prabhakar, the CM’s media advisor, wrote to Meta demanding immediate corrective action, highlighting concerns over the inaccurate Kannada translations on Facebook and Instagram.
Meta acknowledged the fault, stating, “We fixed an issue that briefly caused this inaccurate Kannada translation. We apologise that this happened.”
Expressing his concerns on X (formerly Twitter), Siddaramaiah warned that faulty auto-translations can mislead users and distort facts, especially in official communications. He urged social media companies to take responsibility, cautioning citizens to be mindful that translations may not always be accurate.
“Such negligence by tech giants can harm public understanding and trust,” he added, emphasizing the importance of reliable communication on major platforms.
The incident has sparked a conversation on the need for better language tools and accountability from social media firms to prevent misinformation and maintain public trust.