TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A court on Wednesday (Feb. 8) upheld a NT$500,000 (US$16,500) fine slapped on a man by the Central Election Commission (CEC) for publishing poll numbers for a legislative by-election.

The court’s sentencing document stated that the man had posted poll results for a Kinmen County legislative by-election on multiple LINE groups at 4:34 p.m. on March 10, 2019, six days before the election day, CNA reported.

After launching an investigation into the case, the CEC determined that Lin was involved in the violation of publishing poll data of relevant candidates in the by-election within 10 days of the election day on March 16, 2019, and imposed a fine of NT$500,000.

Lin refused to accept the court's ruling and filed an administrative lawsuit, arguing that he had a disagreement with the court's informant. Lin argued that the screenshot of his profile photo on LINE provided by the informant was a photo from more than seven years ago and not his photo on March 10, 2019. Therefore, he requested to revoke the penalty.

The Taipei High Administrative Court compared the LINE screenshot on his mobile phone with his personal photo on Facebook and found that they were the same photo. With the help of other relevant evidence, the court ruled that the poll numbers were published by Lin.

Lin appealed the court’s decision to the Supreme Administrative Court, which dismissed the appeal and upheld the lower court’s decision on Wednesday.