Society & Politics
Government looks into tactics to handle “fake news”, says Chief Secretary John Lee
- 2021-11-18
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Karmen LiEdited by: CHEN Bingyi
- 2021-11-18
Chief secretary, John Lee revealed today that the government is looking at how other countries tackle the spread of disinformation. Speaking on RTHK, Mr. Lee said a legal study is underway on how to deal with the problem and he has not ruled out the possibility of new legislation. The move comes after the government introduced new laws earlier to clamp down doxxing and hate speech. “The fake news legislation can stop destructive rumors from spreading in Hong Kong. Freedom must be exercised under law, which allows people to enjoy more freedom,” Mr. Lee said. Another proposal to manage fake news is to require publishers to self-regulate. Where information is not verified or fact-checked, publishers would be required to make a statement, Mr. Lee said. He added that he preferred to act on content management first to seek a balance between controlling misinformation and freedom of the press. Tang Tak-shing, chairman of Politihk Social Strategic, a local political organisation, believes it is necessary to introduce a fake news law because of the rise of online news media and unchecked reporting. “We prefer legislation since it is difficult to ask online media with low credibility to be self-regulated. The bill can make the boundaries clear toward news media,” said Mr Tang. A survey released by the Foreign Correspondent Club earlier this month found that 75.8% of the 99 respondents including correspondents and journalist members were very concerned about the possible introduction of a “fake news” law in Hong Kong. The chairman of the Hong Kong Journalist Association (HKJA), Ronson Chan Long-sing, said that the government often claims that news media smear police officers, but “they can clarify this immediately instead of waiting for rumors to spread and blame the media”. “It is hard to self-regulate as proposed by John Lee,” said …

Film censorship amendment bill passes, giving government power to ban films ‘contrary to” national security
- 2021-10-27
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Karmen LiEdited by: Yoyo Kwok Chiu Tung
- 2021-10-27
The Legislative Council passed the film censorship amendment bill on Wednesday, giving the chief secretary the power to ban films “contrary to” national security. Banned screenings will face penalties as high as HK$1 million and three years in prison. “The amendment bill is aimed at striving for a balance between the freedom of artistic expression and national security,” said Ma Fung-kwok, the chairman of this case conference. According to the film censorship ordinance, any action of glorifying violence or inciting hatred towards the country could be grounds for censorship. “The phrase ‘contrary to’ is ambiguous. It is hard for us to define which kind of plots may threaten national security,” said Pao Wai-chung, 55, a local film and television screenwriter. "The amendment bill targets independent or crowdfunded films like Inside the Red Brick Wall,” he said. “The amendment won’t cause any trouble to commercial directors as producers of mainstream movies will never challenge the limit intentionally but comply with the rules so the amendments are not putting them at the risk of bearing losses,” said Pao. The Equal Write Union, an advocacy group for local screenwriters, said that filmmakers tackling sensitive topics, such as political issues, now might be put into jail instead of just being banned. “The article is intended to be unclear for the film producers, which can make prosecution and conviction easier,” said the spokesperson for the Equal Write Union. “It heightens the risk for filmmakers,” said Pao. Councillors said the bill should also regulate cinemas and local streaming media. The movie Ten Years, which won the Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Award in 2016, exhibited in 2015. Leung Mei-fun, a Legco committee member thinks Ten Years was a gulf of hatred towards mainland China and Putonghua; they even romanticized violence such as self-immolation. Also, …
Election Committee poll sees ‘patriots’ fill hundreds of seats on body to appoint Hong Kong’s leader next year in first poll after system revamp; delay in results had candidates waiting overnight
- 2021-09-20
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Nick Yang、Ziyu Bruce ZhaoEdited by: LAMA Sumnima Rani
- 2021-09-20
The polls for Hong Kong’s Election Committee closed last night ending the city’s first election since Beijing revamped the electoral system in March. According to official statistics, 4,380 people cast their ballots, a turnout of about 90%, a record-high rate despite a drastic reduction in the number of eligible voters this year. All but one of the Election Committee seats went to the pro-establishment camp, with 412 candidates competing for 364 elected seats. The remaining seats on the 1,500-member committee were appointed, filled by ex-officio members or automatically elected. The committee will select Hong Kong’s next Chief Executive next year as well as appoint 40 members to the Legislative Council. “The turnout reflects the support of members of various sub sectors for the new electoral system,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said in a press release. Voting results were delayed until 7:30 am today at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with Electoral Affairs Commission chairman Barnabas Fung Wah apologising for problems with the ballot verification papers, likely because officials filled in the wrong boxes, he said at a press conference. The central government reforms included reviewing candidate backgrounds, increasing the number of ex-officio members and raising the requirements for the qualifications of voters. The number of eligible voters dropped from 246,440 to about 4,900. "The automatic election of members from many sectors and the stop of non-patriots have led to a reduction in voters, which actually makes the election more fair," Legislative Council member Lau Kwok-fan said. Daniel Cai, a Hong Kong resident, said he did not pay attention to the election since Beijing changed the electoral system. “I belong to no valid sector, so I don’t have the right to vote for the representatives,” he said. “Before the reform of the election, I could vote for …
Pakistanis with Hong Kong Residency Rights Say Return to City Being Thwarted Due to Vaccination Rules
- 2021-08-13
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jayde CheungEdited by: Editor
- 2021-08-13
Hundreds of Pakistani nationals, attempting to return to Hong Kong, claim they are being turned back even if they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus and have rights to live and work in the city. According to Apna Hong Kong Network, a Facebook social group that provides information about Hong Kong in English and Urdu for South Asians living in the city, more than 2,000 Pakistani nationals with Hong Kong residency rights approached them for help because they are having difficulty returning to Hong Kong. “Hundreds of Pakistanis booked flights on 9 and 10 of August, and were sent back from Dubai,” Sadaf A. Muhammadi, the founder of Apna Hong Kong Network, told The Young Reporter. “They were informed at Dubai airport that vaccinations from Pakistan are not accepted by the Hong Kong government.” “Families have been separated for months... some people have lost jobs because they have been away for too long,” she added. The Hong Kong government suspended flights from Pakistan, India and the Philippines - all considered high-risk countries due to high coronavirus infection rates - beginning April 20 in its effort to prevent the further spread in Hong Kong. In recent changes to Hong Kong’s regulations allowing international flights, the Hong Kong government will allow overseas travelers to enter Hong Kong beginning Aug. 9, depending on which region they came from. Overseas regions have been re-categorised into Group A specified places (high-risk), Group B specified places (medium-risk) and Group C specified places (low-risk). According to the latest regulations, Hong Kong residents from Pakistan can return to Hong Kong only if they are fully vaccinated, and able to present negative results for COVID-19 test conducted within 72 hours, and confirmation of room reservation in designated quarantine hotels. “Only …
Few books with “sensitive” content on sale at HK Book Fair 2021
- 2021-07-14
- People
- The Young Reporter
- By: Jayde CheungEdited by: C.K. Lau
- 2021-07-14
Books that contain politically sensitive content can hardly be found at the Hong Kong Book Fair 2021, the first such event held after the Hong Kong National Security Law was introduced last year. Publishers say fears about breaching the law, which bans acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, have discouraged them from pubishing some titles. Hillway Press is the only publisher that has released books whose content may possibly be regarded as sensitive, including The Journey Through the Brick Wall and 21 July 2019. The first book is an autobiography of Raymond Yeung Tsz-chun, a liberal studies teacher who was shot in the eye in a protest on 12 June in 2019 during the anti-extradition bill movement. The second is written by Ryan Lau Chun-kong, one of the victims in the so-called 721 incident, who offers his account of what happened in the evening of July 21, 2019, when a number of people deemed to be sympathetic to the anti-extradition bill protests were attacked by alleged gangsters in the Yuen Long MTR station. Mr Yeung, who has since quit teaching to start Hillway, also revealed that the company was prepared to publish three other books that contain sensitive content, but no printers were willing to print them. He did not disclose what those three books were about. Jimmy Pang Chi-ming, president of the publishing house Subculture, said fears over the “white terror” of unintentionally violating the national security law now pervaded the whole publishing industry. “Under the vague standards of the national security law, we have abandoned some books that only contain cultural content,” said Mr Pang. “For example, Liu Xiaobo (the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner who was jailed on the mainland for inciting subversion of state …
University LGBTQ groups in China “muted” following social media account closures
- 2021-07-09
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Editor
- 2021-07-09
With no warning and little objection, more than 10 social media accounts for university LGBTQ groups in mainland China were shut down on July 6, according to members of the LGBTQ community in China. Posts and content published on the WeChat accounts, including WDH Purple from Tsinghua University, ColorsWorld from Peking University, and Zhi Heshe from Fudan University, were removed, according to members of those accounts. All of the account names were changed to “unnamed official account” by Tuesday evening. The closure of the accounts may have been connected to a student protest at Wuhan University in April 2021, according to the founder of an NGO in Wuhan that focuses on LGBTQ issues. The protest, in support of feminist issues in China, may have crossed the government’s “red line,” the person, who wished not to be identified by name, had written in a recent WeChat discussion with Cheung Kam-hung, a Hong Kong LGBTQ activist. During the protest, Chinese feminist activists, who are accused by the Chinese government of having been influenced or helped by foreign politicians, were mentioned. The activist wrote that, following the university protest at Wuhan University, the Chinese government probably began to collect information about the social media accounts belonging to the university LGBTQ groups. These digital social media accounts, mostly organised by student communities and teachers, were often used to share stories and research about LGBTQ groups. A message on the main page of the closed accounts stated, “(WeChat) received relevant complaints that (the account) violates The Internet User Public Account Information Service Management Regulation. All the content in the account has been blocked and usage of the account was stopped.” RucSGS, an organization at Renmin University of China advocating discussion on gender issues, said it was affected. The …
China’s ride-hailing app Didi still in use as authorities review cybersecurity
- 2021-07-06
- The Young Reporter
- By: WANG Jingyan 王婧言Edited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-07-06
Two days after mainland authorities ordered the removal of ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing from China’s app stores, it is still the preferred way of transport for many diehard customers For 29-year-old engineer Li Haining, who works in Qingdao, hailing a car from Didi Chuxing to get to her office has become part of her daily routine. “Honestly this incident will affect my choice in the future as I’m concerned about my privacy, but I will keep using this app as long as it’s the most convenient and affordable one for me,” she said. The Cyberspace Administration of China ( CAC) removed Didi’s app from local app stores last Sunday, shortly after it announced that it would start a cyberspace probe. “Didi Chuxing app has serious violations of laws and regulations concerning the collection and use of personal information. The Cyberspace Administration of China notified app stores to remove Didi Chuxing in accordance with relevant regulations of the National Cybersecurity Law,” the CAC said in a statement on July 4. Didi, a household name in China, raised US$ 4.4 billion in its IPO at the New York Stock Exchange on June 30. Its stock gained 1 percent on the first day of trading. Besides Didi Chuxing, the CAC also launched cyberspace reviews into Boss Zhipin, Yunmanman and Huochebang, three other companies listed in New York this year, and removed their apps from the country's app stores on Monday. When using those apps, customers need to provide their identity information such as identity card and phone numbers and their location. Cao Jing, 40, who is used to calling a car from Didi to work almost every day, said the fact that Didi was collecting data was no surprise to her. …
Apple Daily newspaper folds after a 26-year run
- 2021-06-24
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Hamish CHANEdited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-06-24
Long lines snaked around newsstands in Hong Kong today as supporters snapped up the last edition of the Apple Daily newspaper. Top officials of the 26-year-old tabloid-style paper have been detained or jailed. The company’s assets were frozen by the government under the National Security Law, forcing it to shut down. Its website and mobile app also stopped being updated after midnight. About a million copies of the last edition circulated around the city, about ten times its normal print run. Splashed across the front page was a photo taken from the paper’s offices in Tseung Kwan O showing a crowd outside. The headline read “ Hong Kong people bid farewell in pain”. Apple Daily’s proprietor, Jimmy Lai, is serving a 20-month jail term for taking part in illegal protests in 2019. He also faces accusations of violating the National Security Law. The newspaper has long taken an anti-communist and pro-democracy stance. Gary Sing Kai-chung, a former senior photographer of Apple Daily, who has worked at the paper for 17 years, was angry and sad about the newspaper’s closure. “It is like watching a family member get killed,” Mr Sing told The Young Reporter. He described Apple Daily as a pioneer in the Hong Kong media industry. “They sent motorbikers to the scenes to take photos when covering breaking news. More reporters would arrive later to cover the incidents and do follow up stories. This workflow was started by Apple Daily,” said Mr Sing. He said Apple Daily was also willing to invest in equipment. “The speed of changing from film cameras to DSLR cameras was so fast at the Apple Daily,” said Mr Sing. “While other media outlets were still hesitating on whether digital cameras were good, we had already swapped to the new cameras in all divisions.” “If …
Trade Unions call for protection for workers of food delivery platforms
- 2021-06-14
- Society
- The Young Reporter
- By: Hamish CHANEdited by: Jenny Lam
- 2021-06-14
Delivery workers of digital food delivery platforms are not guaranteed a minimum wage and do not have reasonable work injury compensation, the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions said in a press conference today. The HKFTU asks the government to reexamine the employment status of gig workers, including delivery workers of digital platforms. All three major digital food delivery platforms, Foodpanda, Deliveroo and UberEats, recruit delivery workers under self-employed contracts. “The platforms use algorithmic management to control the actions and quality of service when they are in fact the employers of the deliverers,” said legislator Micheal Luk Chung-hung, who worked as a deliverer for a few hours. Mr. Luk said in other countries and regions, governments recognize delivery workers as employees of the digital platforms and are not considered self-employed. In Taiwan, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the Ministry of Labour confirmed in October 2019 that workers of six food delivery platforms, including Foodpanda and Uber Eats, were employees. In Spain, the legislation was passed in March 2021 that recognised delivery platform couriers as employees, in line with a Supreme Court judgement that confirmed a deliverer of Glove, a digital food delivery platform, was an employee. “Although we have questioned the (Hong Kong) government about this issue, they have always responded by claiming there are 'no statistics, no research and no policies at the moment’,” Mr. Luk said. He pointed out that the most significant drawback for self-employed deliverers is that they are not entitled to reasonable compensation for work injuries since the digital platforms do not need to provide labour insurance for them. “All three major platforms in Hong Kong provide accidental insurance for deliverers,” Mr. Luk “but the coverage and the insured amount are far worse than labour insurance.” Comparing the insurance provided by the three …
District councillors’ “unprecedented actions” a severe challenge to government, says Carrie Lam
- 2021-06-08
- Politics
- The Young Reporter
- By: Hamish CHAN
- 2021-06-08
Some “unprecedented actions” by the current batch of district councillors have brought severe challenges to the government, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said this morning. While she was not specific about what those “actions” were, she said the Home Affairs Department would take appropriate “reactions”, including keeping an eye on funding to the councils, councillors’ remuneration and their offices, which were paid for by the government, she said. Mrs Lam’s remarks came after the HAD issued warning letters on June 4 to some district councillors who had distributed candles and posted contents related to the anniversary of the suppression of the student-led democracy movement in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. In the letter, HAD says it has received complaints alleging that some district council members have conducted activities which are unrelated to their duties, damaged community harmony and possibly breached the laws of Hong Kong. “These activities include, but are not limited to, distributing materials and conducting publicity to encourage and facilitate members of the public to participate in unauthorised public assemblies,” says the letter. But Ramon Yuen Hoi-man, a Sham Shui Po district council member and one of the recipients of the HAD letter, has described the chief executive’s characterisation of the councillors’ actions as “absurd”. A member of the Democratic Party, Yuen distributed candles to residents in Cheung Sha Wan on June 3 and 4. He told The Young Reporter in a phone interview that the distributed candles did not involve public money, and he did not see how it would clash with his work as a district councillor. “Whether I am a councillor or not, I would still distribute the candles to the public,” he said. Yuen also posted the lyrics of the song “The Flower of Freedom” on his Facebook page. The song …