Khaberni - A Chinese influencer specialized in beauty content lost about 140,000 of her followers within moments, after a sudden technical glitch stopped a beauty "filter" during a live broadcast, revealing her true features which were completely different from the digital image her audience was accustomed to seeing.
Users of social networking platforms, especially on "TikTok" and "Threads", circulated video clips documenting the moment many described as the "fall of the digital mask".
The content creator appeared as she was preparing for the camera and interacting with her audience, before the filter suddenly malfunctioned for a few seconds, revealing the face of a woman with natural features and a warm complexion who appeared to be of mature age, before the filter resumed and restored the small, well-proportioned facial features typical of digital beauty standards.
On the other hand, a wave of sympathy and support for the influencer emerged from a large segment of followers who expressed their admiration for her natural beauty, with one fan commenting, "The filter makes her soulless, while she looks much more beautiful without it"; while others expressed their anger at what they described as "digital beauty masks" that impose unrealistic standards, especially in East Asia.
This incident followed similar incidents that sparked widespread controversy in the past, notably the case of "Xiao Qiao Bei Lu" in 2019, a Chinese star who shocked her followers when the filter malfunctioned, revealing that she was a middle-aged woman, not the beautiful young woman she appeared to be in her videos.
These incidents have once again opened the door to ethical questions about the use of artificial intelligence technologies and advanced beauty filters like "Bold Glamour" on TikTok, which some influencers have described as "should be illegal" due to their negative impact on self-confidence and their imposition of distorted images of reality that are difficult to achieve in actuality.
