Tyler Lee* recounts the story of facial filter malfunction that led to some uncomfortable moments on social media for a prominent Chinese vlogger.
There are plenty of apps these days that come with filters for our faces.
They can make us look older or younger, they can swop our genders.
They can even make us look like a dog or a cat, and so on.
There are also some beauty filters that can make us look slimmer, with fairer skin, bigger eyes, and so on and so forth.
These filters are incredibly popular and are used widely by social media users, but as they say, you should never 100 per cent believe what’s posted on social media.
Such was the case over in China where a popular video blogger (vlogger) had her real face revealed after there was a glitch with the face filter program she was using.
The vlogger in question, known as Your Highness Qiao Biluo, was doing a live stream with another vlogger when the filter glitched.
To make things worse, her fans and followers had been begging her to show her real face.
She said she said she would only do so when she receives 100,000 yuan ($A20,800) worth of gifts.
However, upon the filter malfunctioning and revealing the vlogger’s real face, which looked nothing like her filters, many began to withdraw their support for her.
They pulled back their gifts and demanded refunds.
While we think the use of filters is fine, it just goes to show that we definitely should take what we see online with a grain of salt.
While you might think that this could be the end of the vlogger’s career, there is kind of happy ending to this story.
Despite her being exposed to some initial backlash, the vlogger actually ended up getting an outpouring of support.
In the end she has more follower than she had before, with her fans affectionately calling her “granny”.
*Tyler Lee is a former wireless carrier employee who spends too much time in front of the computer and blamesWorld of Warcraft for that. He can be contacted at www.ubergizmo.com/tylerlee
This article first appeared at Ubergizmo.
