Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

An ambiguous Facebook post by a page called Ex Treme made the rounds online in end-May.

The post was accompanied by a vague caption saying: "Technology... advanced".

It subsequently gained much traction, garnering over 18,000 shares, with the photos being reposted to various other international Facebook pages.

This was likely due to the controversial nature of the pictures, which depicted what one woman in China really looked like behind the camera.

Before and after

The leaked photos have since incited shock and perhaps, anger, amongst netizens in China, towards a Weibo user and rising influencer who goes by the name Coeyyy.

The before and after photos, with Coeyyy in pink posing alongside another friend, are vastly different.

Superb editing might not have erased all traces of Coeyyy's real appearance.

Netizens noticed that the reflection in one photo looked slightly different from the subject standing in front.

Backlash

Some netizens marvelled at Coeyyy's admittedly impressive use of editing to alter her appearance so drastically.

Others have not been as receptive to her to her true image, fat-shaming her and accusing her of deceiving social media users.

As reported by South China Morning Post, one user said that they "can't blame her [for having] insecurities".

Says she did not "catfish" anyone

Coeyyy eventually responded to the furore in a post on Chinese social media site Xiaohongshu, saying that the photographs had been taken secretly and without her knowledge at a cafe in Zhanjiang city, Guangdong province in China.

She admitted that since the saga, she had not been in a good mood, and had thus delayed posting her latest photos to her account.

On May 6, Coeyyy also acknowledged netizens' flaming on Weibo, arguing that she did not deserve the verbal abuse.

With a current following of slightly over 500, she said that she is not an online influencer and does not earn advertising fees from the places she visits or the clothes she wears.

She also rejected accusations that she had been "catfishing" men online with her edited photos, and urged people not to cyberbully others.

Coeyyy hit back on netizens in her Weibo post:

"If one day I do something extreme in response to your action, will you be able to sleep well for the rest of your life?"

However, Coeyyy had also been quick to take advantage of the public attention, and suggested to upload tutorials on how to use various photo editing apps.

Many netizens have also been supportive of her and left words of encouragement in her post.

Top photo from Ex Treme / FB