Facebook, Google and other tech giants could stop offering services in Hong Kong if anti-doxxing law goes ahead in proposed form, internet coalition warns
- Hong Kong government is amending privacy laws to criminalise malicious spreading of personal details
- Singapore-based Asia Internet Coalition says proposed legislation is too vague and broad
The Singapore-based Asia Internet Coalition said the proposed legislation was too vague and broad, stressing it was also unfair to hold local staff responsible if their overseas-based companies did not remove content on their platforms as authorities required.
The government is amending Hong Kong’s privacy laws to criminalise the malicious spreading of personal details, or doxxing. The move aims to rein in the kind of cyber harassment that became common during the 2019 anti-government protests, when police officers and their family members and supporters were commonly targeted.
The coalition said it appreciated the importance of privacy but “any anti-doxxing legislation, which can have the effect of curtailing free expression, must be built on principles of necessity and proportionality”.
In a letter to privacy commissioner Ada Chung Lai-ling, dated June 25, the coalition said the proposed definition of doxxing acts created “problematic ambiguity”. It stressed that there was no universally accepted definition for doxxing.
