Facebook translates Xi Jinping's name to 'Mr Shithole'; apologizes later
Facebook is drawing flak for translating the name of China's President Xi Jinping to 'Mr Shithole'. The issue, which was witnessed in a number of posts shared on the platform, occurred due to, what the social network described as a, 'technical error'. The company has already issued an apology on the matter, saying that the problem has been resolved. Here's what went down.
Offensive Burmese-to-English name translation
Just recently, President Jinping visited Myanmar and signed various agreements, including some involving major infrastructural plans, with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The development, like any other major piece of news, was shared widely by people in Myanmar, sometimes even in the local Burmese language. However, the weird part was, these Burmese posts, when translated to English, referred Xi's name as 'Mr Shithole'.
Official posts, news headlines affected
Owing to the issue, a number of Burmese posts, even the official one from Counsellor Suu Kyi, mentioned Xi Jinping as Mr Shithole - whenever translated to English. Even various local news pieces about the Chinese President's visit had references to Mr Shithole. One headline, from local news journal The Irrawaddy, appeared as "Dinner honors president shithole" after the translation.
How Facebook made this mistake?
While it remains unclear how long the issue lasted or how many people saw the offensive translations, the error committed is pretty serious. Facebook, on its part, apologized for the 'glitch' and claimed that its system blurted out the incorrect translations as its Burmese database didn't have Xi Jinping's name. Therefore, it merely predicted the translation, leading to the error, the company explained.
Either way, the problem has now been resolved
"We fixed a technical issue that caused incorrect translations from Burmese to English on Facebook, the company said in a statement. This should not have happened and we are taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. We sincerely apologize for the offense this caused."
Facebook's Burmese translation tool has been embroiled in problems
Having said that, it's worth noting that this is not the first time Facebook's Burmese translation tool has gone haywire. Prior to producing bizarre translations of Xi Jinping's name, the tool was caught giving out incorrect English translations for posts advocating the killing of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims. The revelation, made by Reuters in 2018, even led Facebook to disable the tool for some time.
