After “Glory to Hong Kong” became the unofficial anthem of pro-democracy protesters in 2019, the Hong Kong government has sought to suppress its use. The song was banned from schools. When it was mistakenly played in place of the Chinese national anthem at a rugby match in South Korea last year, the Hong Kong government called for an investigation.
This week, authorities asked a court to ban the public performance and online distribution of Glory to Hong Kong. The move could trap US tech companies like Google and become the first legal test of how much control the Hong Kong government can exercise over online content.
Hong Kong wants to ban the song’s distribution or reproduction “in any manner,” including adaptations of its “melody or lyrics,” the government said in a statement on Tuesday. It said the song had been used to “insult” China’s national anthem, “The Volunteers’ March,” and caused “serious damage to the country and Hong Kong.” A date has not been set for the court to hear the motion.
Hong Kong authorities previously criticized Google for showing the protest song in search results for Hong Kong’s national anthem.
“We already sent a request to Google to attach the correct national anthem, but unfortunately Google declined,” Hong Kong’s security minister, Chris Tang, said at a news conference in December. “I find this statement unthinkable and the people of Hong Kong will not tolerate it.”
The government’s request for an injunction against the protest song, filed on Monday, is Hong Kong’s latest attempt to eradicate what remains of political dissent in the city, a former British colony that once enjoyed greater political autonomy. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, Hong Kong has seen a marked transformation from its days as a prosperous hub for foreign businesses to a vanguard in Beijing’s national security campaign.
Last week, an annual vigil marking the anniversary of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square was shut down by officers who arrested and detained protesters and suspected mourners.
In seeking an injunction against the Hong Kong protest anthem, the government is citing its National Security Law, enacted in 2020, which gave Beijing sweeping powers to crack down on what it saw as political crimes, including separatism and collusion.
Should a court order be granted, moderating content in Hong Kong would most likely become more complicated and expensive for U.S. tech companies, said George Chen, chief executive of Asia Group, a consulting firm and former head of Meta’s Greater China Public Policy Division. He said the government’s decision to go to courts would “open the floodgates”.
“Glory to Hong Kong” can be found in Hong Kong on platforms such as Metas Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet.
According to Ming Pao, a centrist Chinese-language newspaper, the lawsuit cited 32 links on YouTube related to the song.
Google and Meta declined to comment. Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
US tech companies typically follow the rules of the countries and regions in which they operate, and sometimes remove content. The possible scope of an injunction in Hong Kong was unclear. Critics say the national security law was written with the intention of monitoring behavior outside of Hong Kong as well.
“Anyone in the world can violate Hong Kong’s national security law,” said Lokman Tsui, former head of free speech for Asia-Pacific at Google. “The question is whether this restraining order is of a similar scope.”
Refusing to comply with a Hong Kong court’s decision could put a company’s employees and business in the region at risk, Mr Tsui added.
For now, efforts to quash the song seem to have sparked a surge of interest in it: On Wednesday, eight different versions of “Glory to Hong Kong” topped iTunes Hong Kong’s singles chart.
Though China was largely closed to foreign internet companies for years, Hong Kong remained an exception — a hub where foreign companies could operate relatively free from the censorship controls they would face on the mainland.
The escalation of Hong Kong government efforts to ban free speech could further damage the city’s image as a financial and economic hub for China and Asia, said Willy Lam, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington think tank.
“We have already seen many multinational companies relocating their staff to Singapore and other places,” Mr Lam said. “Now there will be fewer multinational companies settling in Hong Kong.”
“This is another nail in the coffin for Hong Kong,” he added.
Joy Dong contributed to the coverage.