Hong Kong puts Google in the spotlight with protest music ban

(Bloomberg) — Hong Kong called it “unbelievable” when Google rejected its 2022 request to hide a popular protest song from search results. Now armed with an injunction, authorities are exerting legal pressure on the technology company to eliminate it from the city’s Internet.

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The Court of Appeal on Wednesday approved the government’s application for an injunction order to prevent anyone from playing Glory to Hong Kong with seditious intent. Although the city has a new safety law to punish this crime, the judgment shifted responsibility to the platforms, adding a new danger that merely hosting the track could expose companies to legal risks.

In granting the injunction, the judges said that prosecuting individual offenders was not enough to resolve the “acute criminal problems”.

“The injunction was necessary to persuade IPOs to remove problematic music-related videos from their platforms,” they wrote, referring to internet platform operators.

The injunction “puts Google, media platforms and other social media companies in a difficult position: essentially putting values ​​like free speech in direct conflict with legal obligations,” said Ryan Neelam, program director at the Lowy Institute and former Australian diplomat in Hong Kong. and Macau. “This will increase the broader chilling effect if big foreign technology companies comply.”

Google’s decision will represent a historic test for the city’s internet freedoms. Any removals would set a precedent, and fans fear that China’s sweeping censorship controls are infiltrating Hong Kong. Unlike mainland China, the former British colony does not block foreign social media platforms or search engines.

A Google representative declined a request for comment. The Hong Kong government did not respond to a request for comment.

If the Silicon Valley giant fails to comply, it could face penalties, including a fine and more criticism from the government. The American internet giant has 500 to 600 employees in Hong Kong, Bloomberg previously reported, with most operations focused on advertising sales and marketing. If the company were to withdraw, it would have to reorganize its business operations in Asia, which could include transferring some employees to other countries.

The loss of Google could set back the city’s renewed efforts to bolster its image as a global business hub, after years of Covid restrictions and a Beijing-imposed security law dented sentiment.

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The U.S. government and human rights groups have sounded alarmed about the trial’s impact on the city’s reputation as a financial hub. The free flow of information remains central to Hong Kong’s appeal to global companies, a strength praised by Chief Executive John Lee at a summit this week aimed at attracting global talent.

The ruling included 32 links to the song on Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and content referenced on search engines such as Google, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s Bing. Most of the YouTube videos cited were still accessible in Hong Kong on Thursday.

The Asia Internet Coalition – an industry association that counts Google, Yahoo, Apple Inc, Spotify Technology SA and Meta Platforms Inc as members – said it was evaluating how the court ruling will be implemented to determine its impact on business.

Justice Secretary Paul Lam said he expected internet companies to comply and that it would not restrict their normal operations. “The effect is to persuade Internet service providers not to offer convenience and not to facilitate the enabling of illicit acts,” he said. “I think this point is very clear.”

Local authorities have berated Google for years for failing to stop Glory to Hong Kong from appearing in searches for the city’s national anthem after it was released during anti-government protests in 2019. The song was mistakenly played in place of the Chinese national anthem at several sporting events international. .

After Google rejected this request, security chief Chris Tang promised in 2022 to use “all means” to correct the situation. Government prosecutors filed a preliminary injunction that also applied to anyone who knowingly allowed others to play the song to incite secession, specifying the 32 YouTube videos for removal.

The latest ruling overturned a previous court ruling rejecting the government’s proposal, which cited a potential chilling effect and lack of usefulness because existing laws already have a deterrent effect.

Google and other Internet companies have said they comply with local laws and regulations wherever they operate. This includes removing content in countries like Thailand and India, which have strict content regulations.

Since 2011, Hong Kong authorities have made 325 content removal requests, nearly 60% of which were made in 2023, the company disclosed. In March last year, Google said it did not respond to requests from Hong Kong police to remove two YouTube links related to Glory to Hong Kong.

Human rights group Article 19 called the injunction an example of the city’s “welfare of digital repression” and called on global technology companies to resist the ban. “Considering that the majority of these companies are based in the US, Congress should request testimony from their executives on these red lines,” said Michael Caster, the organization’s digital program manager for Asia.

“Hong Kong authorities have entered the slippery slope of trying to censor some content on the Internet,” said Gregory May, US Consul General in Hong Kong, at a Center for Strategic and International Studies online event on Thursday. “It raises the question: where will this end? Where will the lines be drawn in this space?”

Popular versions of Glory to Hong Kong tracks temporarily disappeared from Apple and Spotify platforms in June last year. The song’s composer, “ThomasDGX & HongKongers,” later said in a statement that the removed tracks were relisted on major media sites following “technical issues unrelated to the streaming platforms.” The composer did not respond to an emailed request for comment on the latest injunction.

Representatives for Apple and Spotify did not respond to requests for comment. A Meta spokesperson referred Bloomberg to the Asia Internet Coalition’s statement.

The injunction increases the impetus for American tech giants to comply and could jeopardize the global reputation of such companies, said Dongshu Liu, an assistant professor specializing in Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong.

“They now have a legal order to follow in Hong Kong,” he added. “Doing so could lead to pressure from the US or other Western markets, accusing them of compromising human rights.”

–With assistance from Vlad Savov and Josh Xiao.

(Updates with comments from US Consul General in paragraph 20)

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