A man who admitted he reposted a defamatory image of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator and Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋) has been granted deferred prosecution for two years, on condition that he attends legal education classes, prosecutors said yesterday.
The man, surnamed Wu (吳), on June 7 reposted a fabricated image on Facebook, purporting to show Shen with a nude woman near a table littered with drug paraphernalia, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
The image was first posted on X by a user named “Hsueh Ting-ting Returns” (薛丁丁歸來), whose Internet protocol address has been traced to China.
Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times
In Wu’s repost of the image, he wrote: “This photo looks like someone. Can anyone recognize who it is?”
He also drew attention to a nearby table, on which there was white powder and what appeared to be drug paraphernalia.
Under the image, Wu posted a genuine photograph of Shen speaking to reporters at the legislature, with the caption: “Does it look like him?”
Shen filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, saying the fabricated image was defamatory because it falsely implied that he frequented disreputable places, used drugs and engaged in sexual activity with unidentified women.
During the investigation, software tools such as Reality Defender, Resemble AI and Media Integrity AI were used to analyze the image, and confirmed it was fabricated, said the bureau, which referred the case to prosecutors for further investigation.
When questioned by investigators, Wu admitted that he had posted the image knowing that it was fake, and later issued a public apology to Shen, prosecutors said.
While Wu, who is in his 60s, had committed aggravated defamation, they granted him a two-year deferred prosecution, because he showed remorse and had no prior criminal record, prosecutors said.
Shen agreed with the decision, they said.
As part of the deferred prosecution arrangement, Wu must attend 10 sessions of legal education during the two-year period, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, a separate investigation is being conducted into the creation of the fabricated image first posted by “Hsueh Ting-ting Returns,” they said.
Shen is challenging incumbent Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the local government elections scheduled for Nov. 28.
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