In a glaring and disturbing translation mishap, Meta’s automatic language tool on Facebook incorrectly declared Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah dead. The error surfaced during the translation of a condolence message originally posted in Kannada by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) following the death of veteran actress B Saroja Devi.

The post, intended to convey that the Chief Minister had paid his last respects to the late actress, was mistranslated into English by Facebook’s automated system. The resulting message shockingly read:

“Chief Minister Siddaramaiah passed away yesterday multilingual star, senior actress B. Took darshan of Sarojadevi's earthly body and paid his last respects.”

The blunder sparked immediate backlash, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah himself issuing a strong statement condemning the inaccurate translation. Taking to social media, he demanded corrective action from Meta, calling for a temporary halt to the Kannada auto-translation feature until its reliability could be ensured.

"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," Siddaramaiah posted.

He urged users to be wary of auto-generated translations and emphasized the responsibility of tech companies to ensure linguistic accuracy, especially when dealing with regional languages and public figures.

A formal letter was sent to Meta by the CM’s media adviser, KV Prabhakar. In it, the Karnataka government urged the tech giant to consult Kannada language experts and enhance its translation algorithms. The letter also highlighted that users are often unaware they are reading automated content, increasing the risk of misinformation.