HONG KONG – Hong Kong said it was “unbelievable” when Google rebuffed its 2022 request to bury a popular protest song from search results. Now armed with an injunction, the authorities are putting legal pressure on the tech firm to wipe it from the city’s internet search pages.

The Hong Kong Court of Appeal on May 8 approved the government’s application for an injunction order to prevent anyone from playing protest song Glory To Hong Kong with seditious intent. While the city has a new security law to punish that crime, the judgment shifted responsibility to the platforms, adding a new danger that just hosting the track could expose companies to legal risks.

In granting the injunction, judges said prosecuting individual offenders wasn’t enough to tackle the “acute criminal problems”.

The injunction was necessary to persuade the IPOs (internet platform operators) to remove the problematic videos in connection with the song from their platforms, they wrote.

The injunction “places Google, media platforms and other social media companies in a difficult position: essentially pitting values such as free speech in direct conflict with legal obligations”, said Mr Ryan Neelam, programme director at the Lowy Institute, and former Australian diplomat to Hong Kong and Macau. He added: “It will further the broader chilling effect if foreign tech majors do comply.”

Google’s decision will amount to a landmark test case for the city’s internet freedoms. Any removals would set a precedent and fan fears that China’s sweeping censorship controls are creeping into Hong Kong. Unlike China, the former British colony doesn’t block foreign social media platforms or search engines.

The Hong Kong government is waiting for a response from major internet and social media companies, and has drawn their attention to the injunction, a government spokesperson said, adding that “earlier on, a major internet service provider has made clear that it is willing to abide by the local law and respect court order”, without naming the company.

A representative for Google declined a request for comment. 

If the Silicon Valley giant doesn’t comply with it, 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 the bulk of the operations focused on selling ads and marketing. If the company were to pull out, it would need to reorganise its business operations in Asia, which may include moving 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 curbs and a Beijing-imposed security law dented sentiment. 

The US government and human rights groups sounded alarm over the judgment’s impact on the city’s reputation as a finance hub. The free flow of information remains critical to the city’s appeal to global businesses, a strength lauded by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee at a summit this week aimed at attracting global talent.

The judgment included 32 links to the song on Alphabet’s YouTube and referenced content on search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing. The majority of the YouTube videos cited were still accessible from Hong Kong on May 9. 

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

Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam said he expected internet companies to comply and that it wouldn’t restrict their normal operations. “The effect is to persuade internet service providers not to provide convenience and not to facilitate the permission of unlawful (acts),” he said. “I think this point is very clear.” 

Local officials have rebuked Google for years for not preventing 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 erroneously played instead of the Chinese national anthem at several international sporting events.

After Google rebuffed that request, Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang in 2022 vowed to use “all means” to correct the situation. Government prosecutors filed an injunction order 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 decision rejecting the Hong Kong government’s bid, which cited a potential chilling effect and lack of utility because existing laws already have a deterrent effect.

Google and other internet firms have said that they abide by local laws and regulations wherever they operate. That includes taking down content in countries like Thailand and India that have strict content regulations.

Since 2011, the Hong Kong authorities have made 325 content removal requests, nearly 60 per cent of which were made in 2023, the company disclosed. In March 2023, Google said it didn’t comply with 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 “embrace of digital repression” and called on global tech companies to resist the ban. “Considering most of these companies are US-based, Congress should call for testimony from their executives about such red lines,” said Mr Michael Caster, Asia digital programme manager for the organisation.

“Hong Kong authorities have stepped on to that slippery slope of trying to censor some content on the internet,” said Mr Gregory May, US Consul General in Hong Kong, at an online event by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies on May 9. “It begs the question, where is this going to end? Where are the lines going to be drawn in this space?”

Popular versions of the Glory To Hong Kong tracks temporarily disappeared from Apple and Spotify platforms in June 2023. The song’s composer, “ThomasDGX & HongKongers”, later said in a statement that the removed tracks were re-listed on major media sites after “technical issues unrelated to the streaming platforms”. The composer didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment on the latest injunction.

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

The injunction raises the impetus for American tech giants to comply, and it could compromise the global reputation of such firms, said Mr Dongshu Liu, an assistant professor specialising in Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong.

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