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TV News Reporter Accidentally Enables Facebook’s Face Filters Before Going Live

By Emma Taggart on February 27, 2020

Whether you care to admit it or not, many of us have played around with face filters on apps such as Instagram and Snapchat. However, not everyone has recorded themselves accidentally wearing augmented reality masks and broadcast it to the entire world. That’s exactly what happened to North Carolina-based WLOS ABC 13 TV news reporter Justin Hinton earlier this month, though. He posted a Facebook live video, reporting on the recent snowfall in Madison County, but accidentally left the Mystery Mask filter enabled.

From a long wizard's beard to big googly eyes, Hinton was captured wearing a whole range of animated looks completely unbeknownst to him. Now with over 500,000 views, the hilarious video quickly went viral when it was posted by WLOS ABC 13. “When you're trying to do a serious Facebook Live about the weather and you accidentally tap the Mystery Mask filter,” the news station wrote. “Poor Justin Hinton.”

Hinton had no idea what was happening while recording, so he proceeded to give a professional report on the weather. “The photog I was working with said something about the screen having weird faces. He didn’t elaborate, so I said it would probably go away,” Hinton wrote on Facebook. “Needless to say, it did not go away.” It wasn’t until he stepped off camera and read the comments from people who were watching that he realized his mistake. The good sport wasn’t fazed though, and simply saw the funny side. “If you can’t laugh at yourself, what’s the point of laughter? I hope you enjoyed the snow day, and remember to smile and laugh!”