YouTube on Tuesday said it would comply with a court decision and block access inside Hong Kong to 32 video links deemed prohibited content, in what critics say is a blow to freedoms in the financial hub amid a security clampdown.
The action follows a government application granted by Hong Kong's Court of Appeal requesting the ban of a protest anthem called "Glory to Hong Kong." The judges warned that dissidents seeking to incite secession could weaponize the song for use against the state.
In comments criticizing the court order, YouTube said the ruling would raise skepticism around the Hong Kong government's work to foster the digital economy and reclaim its reputation as a predictable place for doing business.
"We are disappointed by the Court's decision but are complying with its removal order," YouTube said in a statement, saying it shared human rights groups' concerns that the content ban could chill free expression online. "We'll continue to consider our options for an appeal, to promote access to information."
Some observers, including the U.S. government, say the ban will further undermine Hong Kong's international reputation as a financial hub, and raise concerns about the erosion of freedoms and its commitment to the free flow of information.
"It is not a desirable situation from the perspective of free internet and free speech," said George Chen, co-chair of digital practice at the Asia Group, a Washington DC-based business policy consultancy. He is also former head of public policy for Greater China at Meta.
"Now the question is how far and how aggressive the government wants to go," Chen added. "If you start to send platforms 100 or 1,000 links for takedown every day, this will drive platforms crazy and also make global investors more worried about Hong Kong’s free market environment. How predictable and how stable the policy environment is matters a lot to foreign investors, and Hong Kong is now at a crossroads to defend its reputation."
Industry groups, including the Asia Internet Coalition, which represents big tech firms like Meta, Apple and Google, have said keeping a free and open internet in Hong Kong is "fundamental" to maintaining the city's edge.
The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The action is not a worldwide first for the U.S. technology sector or Google parent Alphabet, which has restricted items when legally required to do so. In China, it has removed content.
A spokesperson for YouTube, part of Mountain View-based Alphabet in California, said the geoblocking of videos would take effect immediately for viewers in Hong Kong.
Eventually, links to the videos will no longer show up on Google Search in Hong Kong as the company's systems process the changes, YouTube said. Attempts to view the song on YouTube from Hong Kong displayed the message: "This content is not available on this country domain due to a court order."
Hong Kong does not have an official anthem. "Glory to Hong Kong" was written in 2019 during widespread pro-democracy protests that year, becoming an unofficial alternative anthem to China's "March of the Volunteers."
In recent years, Hong Kong officials have been sanctioned by the U.S. government for a sweeping national security crackdown on dissent that has seen many opposition democrats jailed and liberal media outlets and civil society groups shuttered.
The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a guarantee that its freedoms would be preserved under a "one country, two systems" formula.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has said that stopping the song's spread was necessary for Hong Kong to safeguard national security.
Source: Reuters
YouTube 正在封鎖香港抗議國歌影片“法庭命令後，榮耀歸香港”
YouTube 週二表示，將遵守法院的裁決，並阻止在香港境內訪問 32 個被視為違禁內容的視頻鏈接，批評人士稱，此舉是在安全打擊下對香港金融中心自由的打擊。
這項行動是在香港上訴法院批准政府申請後採取的，該申請要求禁止名為「願榮光歸香港」的抗議歌曲。 法官警告說，尋求煽動分裂國家的持不同政見者可能會利用這首歌來對抗國家。
YouTube 在批評法院命令的評論中表示，這項裁決將引發人們對香港政府促進數位經濟並恢復其作為可預測經商之地的聲譽的工作的懷疑。
YouTube 在聲明中表示：「我們對法院的裁決感到失望，但正在遵守其刪除令。」YouTube 表示，它與人權組織一樣擔心內容禁令可能會抑制網路言論自由。 “我們將繼續考慮上訴的選擇，以促進資訊獲取。”
包括美國政府在內的一些觀察家表示，該禁令將進一步損害香港作為金融中心的國際聲譽，並引發人們對自由及其對資訊自由流動的承諾受到侵蝕的擔憂。
「從自由網路和言論自由的角度來看，這不是一個理想的情況，」總部位於華盛頓特區的商業政策諮詢公司亞洲集團數位業務聯合主席喬治·陳(George Chen)表示。 他也曾擔任 Meta 大中華區公共政策主管。
「現在的問題是政府想走多遠、走多遠，」陳補充道。 「如果你開始每天向平台發送100或1000個刪除鏈接，這會讓平台變得瘋狂，也會讓全球投資者更加擔心香港的自由市場環境。政策環境的可預測性和穩定性對外國投資者來說非常重要，而香港現在正處於捍衛其聲譽的十字路口。
代表Meta、蘋果和谷歌等大型科技公司的亞洲互聯網聯盟等行業組織表示，在香港保持自由和開放的互聯網是保持香港優勢的「根本」。
香港政府沒有立即回應置評請求。
對於美國科技業或Google母公司 Alphabet 來說，這項行動並不是全球首次，該公司在法律要求的情況下對物品進行了限制。 在中國，它刪除了內容。
YouTube（總部位於加州山景城的 Alphabet 的一部分）的發言人表示，視訊地理封鎖將立即對香港觀眾生效。
YouTube 表示，隨著公司係統處理這些變化，這些影片的連結最終將不再出現在香港的Google搜尋上。 嘗試從香港在 YouTube 上觀看這首歌曲時，會顯示以下消息：“由於法院命令，此內容在該國家/地區的域名上不可用。”
香港沒有官方國歌。 《願榮光歸香港》是在2019年廣泛的民主抗議活動期間創作的，成為中國《義勇軍進行曲》的非官方替代國歌。
近年來，香港官員因對異議人士進行全面的國家安全鎮壓而受到美國政府的製裁，導致許多反對派民主人士被監禁，自由派媒體和民間社會團體被關閉。
這個前英國殖民地於1997年回歸中國統治，中國保證其自由將在「一個國家，兩種制度」的框架下保留。
中國外交部發言人表示，阻止這首歌的傳播對於香港維護國家安全是必要的。
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