Facebook apologetic after a 'technical issue' calls China's leader 'Mr. Shithole'
More like Egg-On-Your-Facebook, amirite?
Facebook is striking an apologetic tone after Burmese text posted on the website showed Chinese President Xi Jinping's name as "Mr. Shithole" in an English translation. The social network is blaming the error on a tech foul-up.
"We fixed a technical issue that caused incorrect translations from Burmese to English on Facebook. This should not have happened and we are taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We sincerely apologise for the offence this has caused," a statement provided to The Guardian reads.
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The UK paper goes on to note that Google's own translation feature doesn't show the same error. Though it turns out there is an explanation for how exactly this happened.
The issue was discovered over the weekend as the Chinese president met in Myanmar with the country's state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi. When Suu Kyi shared a (since-fixed) statement on her official Facebook page, the English translation featured numerous references to "Mr. Shithole."
According to Facebook, Xi Jinping's name didn't previously appear in the company's Burmese language database, and so the translation engine took its best shot. The same "shithole" issue would have occurred, Facebook said, translating any word starting with "xi" or "shi" in Burmese.
It's an unusual situation, and an unfortunate one for Facebook, though the company can point to a history of having issues with Burmese translations. In 2018, the Burmese translation feature was actually removed from the site after a Reuters report highlighted similar issues.
The example cited in the 2018 report points to a post that, in Burmese, reads: "Kill all the kalars that you see in Myanmar; none of them should be left alive." But the site's translation feature showed the English version of that phrase as: "I shouldn’t have a rainbow in Myanmar."
Facebook subsequently confirmed that the translation feature was shut down on Aug. 28, 2018. It's not clear when Burmese translations were brought back online, but it's a safe bet that at least a few people at Facebook are regretting it now.
Topics Facebook Social Media Politics
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
