Hong Kong: Social media platforms and messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Twitter say they will deny law enforcement
Hong Kong: Social media platforms and messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Twitter say they will deny law enforcement requests for user data in Hong Kong while studying ramifications of a national security law enacted last week.
Facebook and its messaging app WhatsApp said in separate statements Monday that they would freeze the review of government requests for user data in Hong Kong, pending further assessment of the National Security Law, including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with international human rights experts.
The policy changes follow the rollout last week of laws prohibiting what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities, or as foreign intervention in the territory’s internal affairs.
The legislation criminalizes some pro-democracy slogans like the widely used Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time, which the Hong Kong government says has separatist connotations.
The fear is that the new law erodes the freedoms of the semi-autonomous city, which has operated under a one country, two systems” framework after Britain handed the colony to China in 1997.
That framework has allowed Hong Kong and its people freedoms not found in mainland China, such as unrestricted internet access.
Spokesman Mike Ravdonikas said Monday that Telegram understands the importance of protecting the right to privacy of our Hong Kong users.
