Meta faces backlash over biased translations scandal against Palestinians
Reactions are pouring into the big scandal of Meta, the owner of applications such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, on the grounds of the Israel-Hamas war.
Reactions are pouring into the big scandal of Meta, the owner of applications such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, on the grounds of the Israel-Hamas war.
It was seen that the profile biographies of users who had the word 'Palestinian' meaning 'Palestinian' on their Instagram profiles, used the Palestinian flag emoji, and the Arabic word 'alhamdulillah' was translated into English as "Alhamdulillah, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom". The scandal caused reactions on social media.
'APOLOGIZE'
The company stated that the problem was caused by 'automatic translation' and apologized to users, saying:
"We have corrected the issue that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations in some of our products."
Meta's spokesperson emphasized that the word 'alhamdulillah' is now automatically translated as 'thank God'.
REACTION FLOODED
One social media user shared a related post, stating that different combinations still mean ‘terrorist’.
“Please tell me this is a joke, I'm out of words," said another user.
Another user emphasized that the translation error was unacceptable.
"There is a real concern about these digital biases and we need to know where it is coming from. Is the translation error due to the level of automation? Is it due to the human factor? There's no clarity on that," Fahad Ali, a spokesperson for Electronic Frontiers Australia, emphasized that Meta is not transparent enough, a former Facebook employee told Guardian Australia, adding that the incident "really infuriated a lot of people" both inside and outside the company.
META CENSORSHIP
Meta has been accused of censoring posts supporting Palestine on its platforms since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Meta is allegedly restricting accounts that post in support of Palestine and making that content less visible in feeds. The company said in a statement earlier this week that there was a general bug that caused reposted posts to not appear in people's Instagram stories, and that it was not limited to posts about Israel and Gaza.
WHAT HAPPENED
Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, announced that they launched a comprehensive attack against Israel called "Al-Aqsa Flood" on the morning of October 7.
While thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel, armed groups entered the settlements in the region.
The Israeli army also launched an attack on the Gaza Strip with dozens of warplanes.
It was reported that 1405 Israelis, including 304 soldiers, were killed and 3 thousand 968 Israelis were wounded in the attacks from Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that 3 thousand 478 people died and more than 12 thousand people were injured in Gaza during the Israeli attacks.
In the occupied West Bank, it was stated that 66 Palestinians were killed and approximately 1300 people were injured in the attacks of Israeli forces and Jewish settlers.
The Israeli army hit Damascus and Aleppo airports. As the Middle East is once again turning into a bloodbath, a deadline has been set for nearly 2 and a half million Palestinians to leave the blockaded Gaza.
Most recently, Israel attacked the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, killing civilians.
Source: Anadolu Agency
