Technical error leaves red faces at Facebook

[Eldorado]

"Facebook claims a “technical” error caused Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s name to appear as “Mr. Shithole” in Burmese-to-English translations on its platform.

"The social network apologized for any offense it caused.

"According to Reuters, Facebook’s faux pas was spotted on the second day of a visit by the president to Myanmar, where he and state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi signed agreements covering Beijing-backed infrastructure plans."

Full monty at Geek dot com: https://www.geek.com/tech/facebook-accidentally-translates-chinese-leaders-name-to-mr-shithole-1816589/

At Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-facebook/facebook-apologizes-after-vulgar-translation-of-chinese-leaders-name-idUSKBN1ZH0IB

[Grim Reaper 6]

I am certain it was a mistake But it was also right on target! I hope whoever was responsible doesn't get caught.

peace

[+Desertrat56]

I a am a programmer, that was no mistake, someone did that intentionally and probably got fired for it.  Probably updated the filter data base to replace his name with that.  No way that was a mistake, except for hiring or giving access to whomever did it.

[freetoroam]

No mistake.

They need to vet their employees better.

[+Desertrat56]

I have been working in the computer support industry so long that I had to train someone who was afraid the computer would blow up in her face if she hit the wrong key, and another woman who asked why I kept bringing her boss into the conversation when I was explaining what a cursor was and how it would tell you where you are in your typing.    I have also gone to a desk where the user reported the computer was dead, once a user did not turn it on, another time it had gotten unplugged.  I worked at one job where everything was always a computer glitch because people thought they could get away with blaming the computer, which trained me to do a better job of adding code to log every keystroke and who was entering data to defend myself, since if the computer messed up, it was my fault.  So yes, someone is blaming a "glitch" that is actually mischief or malicious action and it seems ridiculous that a company like Facebook in 2019 would try that.  Everyone knows how a computer works nowadays, or knows someone who can explain it to them.

[aztek]

it is such a convenient excuse these days, a  computer error,  computers only do what we tell them, if they made a mistake, that means parameters we entered or coded were wrong.  you can do anything you want these days and claim a computer error.   it's like modern day universal excuse, 

whenever someone tells me it was a computer error, i ask , "are you sure it was the computer that made an error", it almost always ticks them off,