Someone altered Zaobao's Covid-19 infographic to read 'sexual intercourse' instead, police alerted

The original line was "social gathering".

Kayla Wong | May 16, 2021, 09:44 PM

Local Chinese-language morning daily Lianhe Zaobao has lodged a police report following a case of unauthorised alteration to their infographic.

The Zaobao infographic, which was posted on Facebook on Friday, May 14, spells out the new social distancing measures under Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) to cope with an increase in community cases in the past two weeks.

This is the line that was altered: "Limit on number of people in social gatherings and at public spaces".

Instead of "social gathering" or "social interaction" (社交), the graphic has been altered to read "sexual intercourse" (性交).

According to Zaobao, after a reader alerted the paper to the alteration, it posted a clarification on its Facebook on Saturday, May 15, and warned its readers to share the original graphic so as to prevent the circulation of false information.

Lee Huay Leng, the head of the Chinese Media Group of Singapore Press Holdings, said they view this "malicious" incident seriously.

In addition to making the clarification, they hope the police can assist in investigating the original source of the tampered graphic, so the person can be dealt with under the law, she said.

Top image via Lianhe Zaobao/Facebook