The Canadian flag emoji has taken on an entirely new meaning on China’s most popular social media platform.
WeChat’s translation function now “interprets” Canada’s national flag as “He’s in prison.” Other flags, too, yield head-scratching translations including “Oh, no” for Portugal, “Hey, it’s hot” for the European Union, and “Oh, my God” for the rainbow flag frequently flown by the LGBT community.
The mistranslation was first pointed out Tuesday on Twitter, with several users sharing screenshots and pithy posts.
“We are taking immediate action to fix a translation bug on WeChat,” the company told Sixth Tone. “We appreciate users who flagged it and would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
The digital faux pas comes amid a diplomatic spat between China and Canada following the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, last December. Months later, two Canadians — businessman Michael Spavor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig — were arrested in China on suspicion of spying.
This is not the first time WeChat’s translation feature has caused a kerfuffle. In October 2017, the messaging app apologized after its translation algorithm resulted in heiren — a term literally meaning “black person” — being translated as the N-word. (Images: Twitter)