The city's government is trying to stop the spread of a popular protest anthem, putting major platforms in a tricky position.
Protesters singing Glory to Hong Kong in the New Town Plaza shopping mall in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, September 11, 2019. Credit: Studio Incendo via Wikimedia Commons
The Hong Kong government’s legal effort to stop a popular protest anthem from appearing on social media platforms is posing a major question for Western tech giants like Meta and Google — will they soon find Asia’s leading financial center as much of a no-go area as mainland China?
The city’s Department of Justice filed an injunction in the High Court on June 6th, seeking to ban the “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing” of Glory to Hong Kong in any medium. The filing cited thirty-two Youtube videos which contain the anthem, whose Cantonese lyrics praising the cause of freedom were often sung during the demonstrations that swept through the city in 2019 and 2020.
An excerpt from HCA 855/2023, the injunction filed by Hong Kong's Department of Justice.
The proposed injunction cites Hong Kong’s controversial 2020 National Security Law (NSL), whose planned introduction sparked that period of unrest. The law promises harsh punishments for acts of “secessio
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