Facebook: Technical error caused vulgar translation of Chinese leader’s name

Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed dozens of agreements covering massive Beijing-backed infrastructure plans on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. (AP)

• Error came to light on the second day of a visit by the president to the Southeast Asian country
• Facebook system did not have President Xi Jinping’s name in its Burmese database and guessed at the translation

YANGON: Facebook on Saturday blamed a technical error for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s name appearing in posts on its platform which was mistranslated into English from Burmese, apologizing for any offense caused.
The error came to light on the second day of a visit by the president to the Southeast Asian country, where Xi and state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi signed dozens of agreements covering massive Beijing-backed infrastructure plans.
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.
China’s foreign ministry declined comment.