Every fall, consumers have come to expect tech companies to announce the launch of new products and features. Banner events, such as Apple’s fall device and iOS releases as well as Meta Connect, have become the ostensible ‘pulse and vibe check’ of the tech and online social world. One might initially think that these events have little to do with the language industry, yet, increasingly, these events have had a lot to do with multilingual digital communication. Let’s dive in.
Content creation is not a new online phenomena, though the ways in which users can now engage, reach, and monetize has radically changed since the earlier iterations of the read-write Web. Similarly, translation is one of the eldest professions in existence, yet its application and relevance within the online creator economy is somewhat of a recent phenomenon, at least to the degree that creators are now increasingly seeing the value-added of a multilingual presence. When prominent creators like YouTuber Mr. Beast not only translate their content, but also launch their own dubbing companies (Wyndham 2023), it is clear that there is an incentive to integrate multilingualism into content creation. Apple has consistently launched new language and translation features over the past few years, including system-wide translation and Live Text Translate. Moreover, although it took Instagram seven years to support right-to-left languages (Tepper 2017) – a significant lag time according to some – the platform is now betting on an expedient roll out of Meta AI Translation to offer creators an in-platform translation tool that will make producing multilingual content increasingly seamless. Though the tool is only available to some creators in the U.S. and Latin America (English/Spanish language capability) at the time of writing, Instagram’s release claims the company hopes to scale this tool to other languages and make it available to other creators soon (Meta 2024).
The significance of Meta AI Translation’s launch is not to be underestimated. First, it now puts AI-powered translation in the hands of many users who may have little to no machine translation literacy, meaning that many who will use this technology may not fully understand or be able to ascertain the micro-, meso-, and macro-level implications of doing so. It is relatively easy to see how AI-generated translation on a dominant platform like Instagram might contribute to further propagating problematic content, such as misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda. For creators who use the platform as a tool for knowledge mobilization, what happens when a unilingual creator cannot verify the accuracy of their translation? What if AI translation inserts hallucinations or outright errors into a viral Reel or Story? There is a real and urgent need to educate content creators about the appropriate use case applications of AI translation tools – and this is where interdisciplinary research and outreach can be very beneficial. Second: although this tool raises some significant concerns–such as those previously mentioned–it is not all doom and gloom. This tool does present a way to address obvious language asymmetries on the platform, which, in a sense, intersects with the principles of linguistic justice. English has long dominated Instagram (and other platforms): perhaps AI translation could allow for more language diversity, representation, and even revitalization to take place. Third: Meta AI Translation will certainly mean a shift in how creators, brands, and individual users of the platform think about multilingual digital communication. For instance, brands who may have previously had an in-house translation team may reconsider their approach. Unilingual creators who may have never considered reaching audiences beyond the language they use online now have new options. Individual users with multilingual followers may simply choose to activate the feature for fun or entertainment purposes. Finally, one has to wonder whether this move is not a clever way to keep Instagram creators ‘locked in’. By offering a seamless translation tool, Instagram creators are unlikely to outsource translation or multilingual consultancy to language professionals or to step outside of the app itself to translate their content. This means more time spent on the platform and more data generation – a boon for Instagram, which has had to contend with steep competition from rival TikTok.
All of this points to the importance of monitoring and studying the intersections of online trends, new technology, and multilingual digital communication. The creator industry represents a significant market industry, to the tune of 21.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2023 (Statista 2023). Ignoring where multilingual digital communication fits within this market sector is a missed opportunity, from both a business and research perspective.
References:
Fitz, T. (2017, Oct. 31). Instagram now supports right-to-left languages like Hebrew and Arabic. Techcrunch.
Statista. (2023). Influencer marketing worldwide – statistics and facts. Accessed 11 March 2024.
Wyndham, A. (2023, Feb. 24). Why MrBeast is Launching a Dubbing Company. Slator. Accessed 1 October 2024.
Meta. (2024). Meta Connect. . Accessed 1 October 2024.
Bionote:
Renée Desjardins (pronouns: she/her) is an associate professor at the Université de Saint-Boniface in Winnipeg (Treaty 1) and a visiting professor at the ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ University School of Continuing Studies. She is the author of Translation and Social Media: In Theory, in Training, and in Professional Practice (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and the co-editor of When Translation Goes Digital: Case Studies and Critical Reflections (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021). Her most recent work examines translation in the creator, influencer, and gig economies. She currently holds two national research grants from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada: an Insight grant for a project titled: TikTokers, Instagrammers, Podcasters, Livestreamers - and Translators: Translation in the Creator Economy, and a Connection grant as a team member for the LINET, a French-language research group focused on translator education, translation pedagogy, and new technology.