A Hong Kong judge said Friday he will rule next week on the government’s request to ban the popular pro-democracy song from the internet in a lawsuit that could force Google and other companies to limit access to the song. rice field.
At issue is “Glory to Hong Kong,” the anthem of the 2019 protests that ended with Beijing tightening control over Hong Kong. Authorities say the song is an insult to China’s national anthem and threatens to trick people into believing Hong Kong is an independent state. The government has banned its performance in schools and has severely condemned it when it is played at sporting events, apparently by mistake.
On Friday, Judge Anthony Chan said he would deliver a ruling on July 28 after hearing three hours of court arguments. The government is seeking an injunction banning the publication and online distribution of Glory to Hong Kong. Violators of the injunction can be sentenced to imprisonment for contempt of court.
The incident has been closely watched by tech companies as it raises concerns that the government will further tighten its control of online speech in Hong Kong.
“The business community should pay attention. As long as the Hong Kong government can plausibly claim that its national security interests are at work, the courts will not be able to protect the business community,” said the center’s executive director. said Thomas E. Kellogg. He studied Asian law at Georgetown University.
Google has resisted public government requests to hide “Glory to Hong Kong” from search results and its sibling service YouTube. But that could change if the court orders the request to be complied with.Like most technology companies, Google has policy of Removal or restriction of access Content deemed illegal by the courts of a particular country or location.
Google, which is owned by Alphabet, said it would not comment on the matter, as did Facebook parent company Meta. Google and Facebook established offices in Hong Kong more than a decade before him and now each have up to several hundred employees in Hong Kong. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Hong Kong authorities have stepped up their crackdown on what they see as dissent and threats to national security, subjecting individuals to arrests, rewards and prosecutions.
At the same time, the government is working to pass legislation by early next year that would target what it considers subversive content and close “loopholes in the internet,” but the move will have broader ramifications and enact a ban. there’s a possibility that.
Hong Kong has long attracted foreign companies seeking access and proximity to China, escaping censorship restrictions. It is the only Chinese territory with free access to services from the likes of Google and Facebook, which pulled out of the country several years ago.
When Google rejected a request to take down the song in December, Hong Kong’s security chief said the company’s decision was “unthinkable.”
In court on Friday, government attorney Benjamin Yu, who argued why the song should be banned, said the song was used to “inflame emotions.” He pointed to the arrest of a harmonica player who played the song outside the British consulate last year during the mourning of Queen Elizabeth II.
Dissenting lawyer Abraham Chan, a friend of the court, said banning the song on national security grounds could hinder the free flow of information.
“You can’t just say, ‘Don’t worry about the cold weather,'” he says.
Hong Kong authorities have arrested more than 250 people in a bid to root out opposition to the ruling Communist Party under a broad national security law imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese government in 2020.
Kevin Yam, a Melbourne-based legal researcher and former Hong Kong lawyer, said that compared to the “slower” criminal proceedings against individuals, the injunction would give the government a quicker path to restricting content on online platforms. Said it could be given.
No companies or individuals were named as direct defendants in the government’s injunction, which included 32 links to “Glory to Hong Kong” on YouTube.
But many fear that the court’s injunction against Glory to Hong Kong could be a step toward more public control of Hong Kong’s internet. In Hong Kong, the internet is largely uncensored, despite the Chinese government having tighter powers in ruling Hong Kong.
US tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter were blocked from mainland China in 2009. A year later, Google shut down its China service and directed users to its Hong Kong search engine, then a bastion of political freedom in mainland China.
Since the national security law came into force, Hong Kong authorities have seen a surge in requests for tech companies to remove content from the internet.
Chan Che Contributed to the report from Seoul.
