X Grok auto-translate bug is changing country flags as mutuals fix goes out

Instead of translating the text content of the post (or the bio of a user), Grok is also changing the flags in the translated message. This is bizarre, and it alters the actual message of the post or bio. While some users had already criticized Grok for occasionally missing local slang or getting translations wrong, this issue is far more serious.

This has led to people speculating that a Beta version went live, since it also changed the Polish flag into the Turkish flag. Users are annoyed that this flag issue is an add-on to the existing translation errors.

X has begun auto-translating posts from other languages fairly recently, to try to increase engagement on the platform. They also added an option to turn it off for individual languages, if you don’t want to see auto-translated posts. 

From what I can observe, Grok seems to be converting the flags into the flags that your region is in. X did not comment about this issue at the time of writing, and we don’t know when they’ll fix it. I asked Grok about the issue, and it responded that it could be a front-end/ display logic error.

The flags issue aside, people were disappointed about X removing mutual followers from the profiles of accounts. However, this was likely just a bug (or they decided to add it back after seeing the backlash, and are passing it off as one). Nikita responded, “Give me 12 seconds,” and also replied later that a “Fix is going out.”

The “Followed by” section is visible for me at the moment on the web app, so I’m assuming the fix is already in place. 

In other news about X, creators have lost thousands of followers amid a recent bot purge to clean up the platform. Unfortunately, some genuine accounts were also caught in the fire. You can read about that here.

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