The Hong Kong SAR government has taken action to fan "independence" songs! Downloading, humming, and spreading are all illegal scandals | Special Administrative Region Government | Songs
A song used by Hong Kong gangsters to incite independence during the 2019 amendment controversy has been repeatedly played as the national anthem in international competitions in Hong Kong. Despite multiple negotiations between the SAR government and Google, the latter still refused to replace songs that incite "independence" under the pretext of technical reasons.
So the Hong Kong SAR government took action.The Department of Justice wrote in the complaint seeking a court injunction prohibiting the dissemination, performance, printing, publication, sale, dissemination, or display of "solo songs", including melodies, lyrics, or any adapted versions. The related behavior intends to insult the national anthem, violates the National Anthem Ordinance, and is likely to misunderstand that the song is the so-called "national anthem" of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and associate it with Hong Kong being an independent country with its own national anthem.
According to a press release on the website of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, many incidents in the past have proven that the relevant songs are highly likely to continue to be widely circulated in violation of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Criminal Offences Ordinance. In order to fulfill the constitutional responsibility of the SAR government to maintain national security, effectively prevent, stop, and punish acts and activities that endanger national security, the SAR government has carefully considered and decided to apply for an injunction from the court.
According to the website of Hong Kong judicial institutions, the case has been scheduled to be heard in the High Court at 2:30 pm next Monday. Judge Chen Jiaxin will be responsible for giving court instructions, which is expected to take 15 minutes.
Regarding the SAR government's move, Ye Liu Shuyi, the convener of the Executive Council and a member of the New Democratic Party Legislative Council, believes that the Department of Justice's approach is correct. She believes that if the court approves an injunction, search engines including Google have a responsibility to delete the songs referred to in the law.
"Applying for a restraining order has nothing to do with freedom of speech." Ye Liu Shuyi also said that the lyrics of the song contain words that incite and divide the country, and the restraining order applied by the government only covers this song, so it does not affect the freedom of speech of citizens at all.
Tang Jiahua, a member of the guild who is a senior barrister, explained that once the law is approved, if all people in the jurisdiction of Hong Kong, including Internet service providers, provide anyone with downloading and distributing sensational "independent" songs, it is to assist others to violate the statutory laws and may constitute contempt of court.
He also pointed out that this song has a "Hong Kong independence" consciousness, and humming or changing the lyrics may violate prohibitions. He previously stated that if citizens set the relevant songs as mobile phone ringtones, there is a risk of dissemination or distribution due to the opportunity to be heard by others in public. It is recommended that citizens who have downloaded and still retain relevant songs should delete them for the safest.