Lost in translation? Japan minister blames X for diplomatic near-miss
X mistranslated trade minister Ryosei Akazawa's post, making it appear he had met Sheikh Hasina instead of visiting Bangladeshi prime minister Tarique Rahman.
TOKYO – Japanese Trade Minister Ryosei Akazawa blamed Elon Musk's X social media platform for a near diplomatic incident after the automatic translation feature misidentified the current Bangladesh Prime Minister. Akazawa assured reporters that he knew the identity of the Bangladeshi leader after a post with photos mistakenly displayed the name of an ousted Bangladeshi premier in the translated version.
In a Japanese-language post on X on October 28, Akazawa stated he met with visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, but the platform's translation tool incorrectly altered the English version to make it appear as though he met with Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's former premier who had been living in exile in India since a mass uprising in 2024.
This is not the first time Akazawa has experienced translation errors on X. He recounted similar mistakes occurring after online meetings with Kuwait's oil minister Tareq Al-Roumi, Qatar's energy minister, and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. On each occasion, the automatic translation feature incorrectly stated that Akazawa held talks with the wrong individual.
Akazawa expressed his frustration with the platform's translation tool, stating it was the third time he had fallen victim to such a snafu and appealed for X to fix the issue. However, X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Written by urgent.news from Free Malaysia Today's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Lost in translation? Japan minister blames X for diplomatic near-miss freemalaysiatoday.com
