False posts purport to show Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu in prison

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 10, 2021 at 11:29
3 min read
By AFP Hong Kong

Two images were shared in social media posts which claim they show Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu in prison. The posts circulated online after Wu was detained by Chinese police on suspicion of rape on July 31, 2021. But neither of the two images shows Wu: one has been doctored; the other has circulated online in posts that predate his detention by more than a year.

First misleading post

One image was shared here on Twitter on August 3, 2021.

"The photo of Wu Yifan [Kris Wu] in prison has been released!" reads its Chinese-language caption.

Screenshot taken on August 9, 2021, of the misleading Twitter post

Kris Wu, also known as Wu Yifan, has been detained on suspicion of rape, Beijing police said on July 31, 2021, according to this AFP report.

An identical image was also shared alongside a similar claim here and here on Twitter; and here and here on the Chinese social network Weibo.

The claim is false: the first image has been doctored.

Reverse image and keyword searches on Baidu found the original photo was published in an article here by the prison administrative bureau in eastern China's Zhejiang province on December 6, 2018.

The photo's caption states: "Candidates for the third 'best prison officers' evaluation in Zhejiang prison management system".

A screenshot of the original photo from the prison administrative bureau in eastern China's Zhejiang province

The photo has been mirrored and the prisoner's face digitally altered to replace with Wu's image.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the doctored image in the misleading posts (L) and the original photo published by Zhejiang Prison Administrative Bureau (R):

Screenshot comparison of the image shared in the misleading posts (L) and the photo published by Zhejiang Prison Administrative Bureau (R)

Police in China’s Jiangsu province also stated here on Weibo on August 4, 2021 that the image had been doctored.

Second misleading post

Another image was shared here on Weibo on August 1, 2021.

Screenshot taken on August 9, 2021, of the misleading Weibo post

The same image has also circulated here on Facebook and here on Twitter alongside a similar claim it shows Wu in prison.

But this claim is also false: the second image has circulated online more than a year before Wu was detained.

The image was embedded in this online post on December 19, 2019.

It was also shared in this article published on Chinese online news website Yidian Zixun on July 17, 2021 -- also predating Wu's detention.

The article states: "How did an honest person turn into a death penalty criminal". It makes no no reference to Wu.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the second image (L) and the photo from the Yidian Zixun article (R):

Screenshot comparison of the misleading image (L) and the photo from the July article (R)

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