Pressure is building on tech companies to reverse takedowns of “Glory to Hong Kong”, the controversial song widely circulated during the city’s 2019 protests but later restricted from public distribution.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bicameral, bipartisan panel that advises Congress and the US president on China policy, has urged YouTube and its owner Google to restore 32 videos removed as a result of a Hong Kong appeal court injunction in May, and consider alternative ways of complying.
“The steps taken by your company ... far exceed what is required by the court’s injunction and will have far-reaching implications for the free flow of news and information and the freedom of expression,” the panel’s co-chairs said in a letter to the CEOs of YouTube and Google dated June 4.
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In the letter, which was publicly released on Wednesday, Republican representative Chris Smith of New Jersey and Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, also asked the companies to disclose all demands made by Beijing or Hong Kong to remove online content, in addition to content taken down on their own initiative.
In May, YouTube blocked 32 URLs identified by the Court of Appeal as prohibited publications for Hong Kong-based viewers, according to a spokesperson for the company. Links to the videos on Google were also blocked, the spokesperson said.
The court had ruled in favour of the Hong Kong government that month and granted an interim injunction authorities sought last year over the song, which was created by demonstrators during the 2019 Hong Kong protests and is sometimes mistaken for the city’s official anthem.
The injunction bans people from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing [the song] in any way” with the intent to incite others to separate Hong Kong from China, commit a seditious act or insult China’s national anthem “March of the Volunteers”.
It also prohibits anyone from playing the song in a manner that suggests the city “is an independent state and has a national anthem of her own”. The use of the song is allowed for academic or journalistic purposes.
In response to the lawmakers’ letters, the YouTube spokesperson said the company was actively exploring avenues for an appeal to the court.
“We strongly disagree with the Hong Kong High Court’s order to block access to the listed videos for viewers within Hong Kong’s borders,” the spokesperson said.
“We pushed back against the government’s demand that we remove these videos for over a year, and are continuing to investigate our options for an appeal.”
YouTube still displays versions of the song for Hong Kong users, though the 32 video clips continue to be blocked.
Google maintains a transparency report for Hong Kong, which shows that from July to December 2023, the company received three removal requests for national security reasons, out of a total of 33 removal requests.
Separately, 31 human rights groups and practitioners wrote on Tuesday to Scotland-based music distributor EmuBands, urging it to reverse its decision in late May to drop global distribution of “Glory to Hong Kong”.
“Your decision appears based on a flawed understanding of a court order in Hong Kong, which does not adhere to international human rights law concerning acceptable restrictions on the freedom of expression, and certainly does not apply extraterritorially,” the letter said.
According to EmuBands, the decision to drop the song was the result of the company’s inability to afford costs of hiring legal experts to assess an “evolving and complex situation”.
In a statement on Wednesday, Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council welcomed the push from US legislators to resist efforts to ban the song. “[We thank] the CECC for their commitment to uphold free speech, free flow of information, and internet freedom.”
More from South China Morning Post:
- Ban on ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ protest song finally bearing fruit for government, observers say, as YouTube and others ‘draw the line’
- Scottish distributor of controversial 2019 Hong Kong protest song says high cost of legal advice forced it to pull city-banned tune from catalogue
- ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ makes comeback on Spotify, Apple Music despite removal by former distributor after government ban
- ‘Backup’ versions of Hong Kong protest song found on YouTube even after site blocks access to 32 clips following court order
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