diff --git a/app/jobs/scheduled/posts_locale_detection_backfill.rb b/app/jobs/scheduled/posts_locale_detection_backfill.rb
index 2f665791..61b90a13 100644
--- a/app/jobs/scheduled/posts_locale_detection_backfill.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/scheduled/posts_locale_detection_backfill.rb
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ def execute(args)
       posts.each do |post|
         begin
           DiscourseTranslator::PostLocaleDetector.detect_locale(post)
+        rescue FinalDestination::SSRFDetector::LookupFailedError
+          # do nothing, there are too many sporadic lookup failures
         rescue => e
           Rails.logger.error(
             "Discourse Translator: Failed to detect post #{post.id}'s locale: #{e.message}",
diff --git a/app/jobs/scheduled/topics_locale_detection_backfill.rb b/app/jobs/scheduled/topics_locale_detection_backfill.rb
index fb0d30b8..cbd96bc4 100644
--- a/app/jobs/scheduled/topics_locale_detection_backfill.rb
+++ b/app/jobs/scheduled/topics_locale_detection_backfill.rb
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ def execute(args)
       topics.each do |topic|
         begin
           DiscourseTranslator::TopicLocaleDetector.detect_locale(topic)
+        rescue FinalDestination::SSRFDetector::LookupFailedError
+          # do nothing, there are too many sporadic lookup failures
         rescue => e
           Rails.logger.error(
             "Discourse Translator: Failed to detect topic #{topic.id}'s locale: #{e.message}",
diff --git a/app/services/discourse_translator/topic_locale_detector.rb b/app/services/discourse_translator/topic_locale_detector.rb
index 5be9d939..46e1f3c8 100644
--- a/app/services/discourse_translator/topic_locale_detector.rb
+++ b/app/services/discourse_translator/topic_locale_detector.rb
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ def self.detect_locale(topic)
       translator = DiscourseTranslator::Provider::TranslatorProvider.get
       detected_locale = translator.detect!(topic)
       locale = LocaleNormalizer.normalize_to_i18n(detected_locale)
-      topic.update!(locale:)
+      topic.update_column(:locale, locale)
       locale
     end
   end
diff --git a/spec/services/topic_locale_detector_spec.rb b/spec/services/topic_locale_detector_spec.rb
index 2dc868de..4038a555 100644
--- a/spec/services/topic_locale_detector_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/services/topic_locale_detector_spec.rb
@@ -23,5 +23,16 @@
         nil,
       ).to("zh_CN")
     end
+
+    it "bypasses validations when updating locale" do
+      topic.update_column(:title, "A")
+      SiteSetting.min_topic_title_length = 15
+      SiteSetting.max_topic_title_length = 16
+
+      translator.stubs(:detect!).with(topic).returns("zh")
+
+      described_class.detect_locale(topic)
+      expect(topic.reload.locale).to eq("zh_CN")
+    end
   end
 end