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Hong Kong national security law: leading internet service provider admits blocking protest website at authorities’ request
- Hong Kong Broadband Network says it complied with authorities’ request to prevent customers from accessing HKChronicles
- The website was a main destination for local people seeking information about the anti-government movement
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A leading telecoms company has become the first internet service provider to admit blocking one of the most popular websites devoted to the anti-government movement in Hong Kong because it may violate the national security law.
Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN) revealed on Thursday it had complied with an official request to disable customers’ access to HKChronicles, which contained information, articles, photos and videos related to the social unrest that erupted in 2019, along with personal details of officers and pro-Beijing figures.
“We have disabled the access to the website in compliance with the requirement issued under the national security law,” the city’s second-largest internet service provider (ISP) said.
The Post quoted sources on Saturday as saying authorities had invoked the national security law for the first time in demanding the city’s ISPs halt access to the website citing Article 43 and its implementation rules. Section four empowers authorities to require a person who publishes a message or information that is likely to endanger national security, or the relevant service provider, to delete the information.
The commissioner of police can authorise officers to take the step after receiving approval from the secretary for security. They both sit on the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, which is chaired by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.
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