Part One
So, bear with me here.
I’m doomscrolling on Linkedin as one does. Then I see a post from one of the biggest gameloc LSPs around, Altagram, on Arabic localization.
I sit there, staring. And the post stares back.
I wouldn’t usually give SEO bait a second look, but something caught my eye—and it’s not the cringe B2B capitalingo for once.
𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘰?
Okay, that’s interesting. Maybe I should check out the article after all.
So I did, and surprisingly, turns out it’s pretty good! It may be high on the LLM regurgitation scale and nonsensical in places as a result, but that’s the price of padding out word count I guess.
There’s a tiny problem though—I wrote that article, and I don’t recall writing it for Altagram. I recall writing it for my boutique localization studio.
Hey Altagram Group - Game Localization, why don’t you take a seat right over there?
My article ”𝐅𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧—𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬, 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐲”, written in mid-2023, was plagiarized to produce Altagram’s latest article.
𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 (29 Jul 2023):
https://lnkd.in/en-3N977
”𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦’𝐬” 𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 (05 Feb 2025):
https://lnkd.in/em3kntY6
𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 (14 Feb 2025):
https://lnkd.in/e6VYnx_r
My article was likely fed to an LLM, then the bare minimum of the output was changed to avoid detection and maximize search engine manipulation.
I specify “bare minimum” because even ignoring using the piracy website image and crediting said website with a 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤 (masterful gambit, btw), my screenshots, examples, and even metaphors were copied almost identically.
Using AI as a scapegoat here wouldn’t be an out either, this was a conscious effort by their “writer”. Otherwise, their article would have different images.
But I don’t want to sell them short, what Altagram didn’t miss a beat about adding was the call to action at the end, which now highlights their work.
All that said, I do agree with their sentiment.
Paraphrasing Altagram’s post, ”𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤—𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤“.
And who wouldn’t want to work with that person instead of the megacorp aping them wholesale? 😳
𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐰𝐞 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕✨
👉 loclait - Arabic Game Localization, Simplified
🫳🎤
Part Two
In the latest news on Altagram Group.
Since my initial post showcasing Altagram’s “creative” quoting practices, in which they plagiarized one of the articles I wrote for loclait - Arabic Game Localization, Simplified wholesale for their blog, they:
- 𝐃𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 have time to reach out and apologize.
- 𝐃𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 post a public statement explaining themselves.
- 𝐃𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 have time to take down their plagiarized article in its entirety.
𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬:
- 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 to delete the clearly plagiarized sections & images while leaving the vast majority of my re-worded article up.
- 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 to crop out the piracy website logo they accidentally used an image from and credited with a direct link in their original plagiarized article.
- 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 to add a note all but admitting their plagiarism while taking no responsibility for it, crediting the source, nor calling it what it is - ”𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 2 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘦’𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴.”
𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦’𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 (14 𝐅𝐞𝐛 2025):
https://lnkd.in/e6VYnx_r
𝐀𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦’𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 (17 𝐅𝐞𝐛 2025):
https://lnkd.in/dzwY3—q
Classy, as always.
Try to memory hole as hard as you want, but the internet never forgets 💖
Part Three
Getting too lazy to document at this point. Just see for yourself lmao.
Altagram Group - Game Localization (Linkedin)
We sincerely apologize to Seif Chaib regarding our recent article on Arabic localization.
Two game examples and screenshots in our article reflected points Seif had previously analyzed, and we should have properly referenced their work. This was an oversight, and we take full responsibility.
As soon as this was brought to our attention today, we took the following actions:
- We removed the 2 referenced examples and images to ensure clarity.
- We reached out to Seif privately to apologize and invited them to discuss this directly.
- We reviewed our internal content process to ensure proper sourcing in future publications.
The remainder of our article remains unchanged, as it is based on our own research and industry experience. However, we appreciate the feedback on this matter and acknowledge the need for greater diligence in how we reference external analyses.
We respect the contributions of industry professionals and take this as an opportunity to reinforce our commitment to producing thoughtful and well-sourced content.
Seif Chaib (Linkedin)
Hey @Altagram Group - Game Localization!
Nice of you to finally respond (even though your editing efforts started yesterday - check the wayback machine - but I digress).
As I mentioned in my e-mail, I refuse to waste any more of my time on this, I’ll just screenshot your CEO’s “apology” and my response.
An apology starts with acknowledging what actually went down - and all of this just rings hollow.
And then I blocked everyone involved and lived happily ever after.
By Seif Chaib.
Originally posted on Linkedin.