Oct 23, 2023 11:35:00

Instagram apologizes for mistranslating some Palestinian users' profiles as 'terrorists'

Large-scale clashes between Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist organization based in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, and Israel have left

more than 5,700 people dead on both sides. In this armed conflict, a large amount of information about the battle and damage caused has been spread on social media. However, it has been reported that Instagram mistranslates the profiles of users that include the idiomatic expression 'ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ' as 'terrorist'.

Meta has a moderation bias problem, not just a 'bug,' that's suppressing Palestinian voices | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/19/meta-instagram-palestine-israel-shadowban-censorship-moderation-bias/

Instagram sorry for translation error that put “terrorist” in Palestinian bios | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/10/instagram-sorry-for-erroneously-labeling-palestinian-users-as-terrorists/

The word 'ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ (Alhamdulillah)' means 'Glory to Allah' or 'Thanks be to Allah' and is widely used in Arabic-speaking countries where many Muslims live. . It is also said to be frequently used in conversation to mean 'Thanks to you.' Some Palestinian users seem to include the word 'Alhamdulillah' along with the Palestinian flag emoji and the word 'Palestinian' in their profiles.

However, when converted to English using Instagram's built-in profile translation function, it says, ``Palestinian terrorists, praise be to Allah'' and ``Praise be to god, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom. (Glory to God, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for freedom)' has been reported to be mistranslated.

In response to these reports, Meta revealed, ``There was an issue where the Arabic translation of some products temporarily created inappropriate sentences, which we immediately fixed.'' I sincerely apologize for this.'

On the other hand, some users view this mistranslation issue as dangerous. TikTok creator Shayaan Khan points out, ``Translation errors like this one strengthen hatred towards the Muslim world and can lead to racism.''

Also, Rasha Abdul Rahim of the non-governmental organization Amnesty Tech said, ``Meta's apology is not enough.'' Furthermore, Rahim says, ``This translation error is not a defect, but a result of Meta's constant censorship of Palestinian content.''

This is not good enough @instagram . The fact bios that incl “Palestinian”, ???????, and “alhamdulillah”were translated as “Palestinian terrorist” is not a bug - it's a feature of your systems. Just as “Al Aqsa mosque” was designated a “terrorist” org in 2021. https://t.co/M5mAUNmP6v

— Rasha Abdul-Rahim ???????? (@Rasha_Abdul) October 20, 2023

In October 2023, there have been a number of reports of pro-Palestinian posts being shadowbanned on Instagram and Facebook. On the other hand, Meta reports that ``the cause is a bug unrelated to the content of the post,'' and claims that ``It is not true that Meta is intentionally suppressing the opinions of Palestinians.''

Meta claims it's a bug, with reports of people being shadowbanned for pro-Palestinian posts on Instagram and Facebook - GIGAZINE