Translating user-generated content: legal implications

Question

I’d like to engage in an adventure to transform a site which involves setting up a team of translators to start translating user-generated content (what is in the past is ignored).

I understand that a translator could potentially alter the original meaning by accident when translating, hence my this question.

Could I mitigate this by having a button or link to “show original in Chinese”?

Do I need to put anything in the terms and conditions?

Do I need to be concerned about doing this at all?

I’m not asking if it’s scalable.

Answer 1

A provision in the T&C or EULA agreement to cover the licensing of that user-generated content and the implications of translating user-generated content is definitely useful (if not required).

First, a license should be required from the author of the content to be able to use the material. For instance, the license must give the website owner the capability to adapt the material to publish it on the website.

https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/blog/legal-issues-user-generated-content/#Website_Owners_vs_Users

Here's an example "User Content License" from Airbnb:

But the second implication of using user-generated content is copyright infringement. Under DMCA, website owners can be held liable if their websites enable copyright violations. A reporting process to report these violations is mandatory (ie. third parties that discover their copyrighted material on the website).