Four influencers have found themselves on the receiving end of criticism after an interview with CNA Lifestyle.

This time, however, there is a twist — the influencers may feel hard done by an inaccurate quote in the article's headline that became the centre of the controversy.

This has resulted in members of the public focusing their frustration and ire on the influencers.

Influencers using TikTok during pandemic

Members of the public were particularly irate after reading an interview conducted by CNA Lifestyle.

More specifically, this occured after they read the rather unfortunate headline, "'I had to use TikTok': How Singapore’s influencers cope with the circuit breaker measures."

The piece features four influencers managing three accounts:

• Nicole Chang Min (@nicolechangmin)
• Audrey Faith Lim (@tippytoess)
• Hemandra Tanapalan and Cheryl Chua (@TodayWeExplore)

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-EHHcSjGWo/

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8gOrQOBx8a/

The article was shared on CNA and CNA Lifestyle's Facebook page on May 15, although the story was published the day before.

Backlash

A number of social media users once again took the opportunity to lash out at influencers in general.

The detractors also mocked the idea that these personalities have to adapt to using TikTok during the stay home period, and sarcastically compared their efforts to that of frontline workers.

One of the interviewed personalities, however, made a surprise appearance in the comments section.

Influencers highlight the mistakes made by CNA Lifestyle

But things took a turn after the influencers spoke up on their own accounts.

For one, [Nicole] Chang clarified that CNA Lifestyle had wrongly attributed a quote to her:

Chang also claimed that the headline quote, "I had to use TikTok" was not said by any of the interviewees.

Her claims were superimposed on fellow influencer Preetipls' criticism of CNA Lifestyle.

On the other hand, [Audrey Faith] Lim shared the article and addressed her use of TikTok in a couple of Instagram Stories:

Lim similarly hinted that none of them had said the quote:

Lim also claimed that the article's editor had said CNA Lifestyle will not be changing anything in the article.

@todayweexplore simply shared the article with a laugh-crying emoji at the headline.

CNA Lifestyle apologises

On the same evening, CNA Lifestyle edited the headline to "Bye travel, hello TikTok: How Singapore’s influencers cope with the circuit breaker measures" and apologised for the error.

An editor's note at the bottom of the article reads,

"The headline to this story has been edited. An earlier version had included a quote that was incorrectly used. We apologise for the error."

Top image via CNA's Facebook page