Instagram issues apology after adding the word 'terrorist' in certain Palestinian accounts

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has recently issued an apology for adding the word 'terrorist' to the profile bios of some Palestinian Instagram users. According to the company, this was a technical error on their behalf, caused by an auto-translation glitch, as reported by CNN and The Guardian.

As per reports, the error was made prominent online by Instagram user @khanman1996, who on TikTok made a video about how certain information in his Instagram profile was mistranslated. As an experiment, Khan had written in his Instagram bio that was Palestinian, adding the Palestinian flag and the Arabic word 'Alhamdulillah'. However, when clicking on the translation option, instead of the actual translation "Praise be to God", the bio read: "Praise be to God, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom."

After noticing the mistranslation, Khan attempted the experiment again; removing the Palestinian flag and emoji and adding only 'Alhamdullilah'. This time, the translation had simply read: "Thank God", without any mention of Palestine or terrorism. Khan admitted on social media that he was not Palestinian himself, but had attempted the experiment after a request from a Palestinian friend of his. 

Last week, Meta announced that they will remove posts or comments supporting Hamas on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads in an attempt to control misinformation related to the ongoing Israel-Palestine War.