FB apologizes for Xi name gaffe

Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2020 05:18:26 +0000

XI (AP)

YANGON (Reuters) – Facebook Inc. on Saturday blamed a technical error for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s name appearing as “Mr. Shithole” in posts on its platform when translated into English from Burmese, apologizing for any offense caused.

The error came to light on the second day of a visit by Xi to the Southeast Asian country, where he and state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi signed dozens of agreements covering massive Beijing-backed infrastructure plans.

A statement about the visit published on Suu Kyi’s official Facebook page was littered with references to “Mr. Shithole” when translated to English, while a headline in local news journal the Irrawaddy appeared as “Dinner honors President Shithole.”

It was not clear how long the issue lasted but Google’s translation function did not show the same error.

“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 apologize for the offense this has caused,” Facebook said in a statement.

The Facebook system did not have President Xi Jinping’s name in its Burmese database and guessed at the translation, the company said. Translation tests
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