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Facebook and WhatsApp refuse to deliver information to Hong Kong

2020-07-07T13:45:52.882Z


The new national security law imposed by China authorizes the consultation of private information on the Internet. The bitter giant


"People have the right to have a private conversation online." The statement may seem trivial, but it is with these kinds of sentences that Facebook and its WhatsApp messaging service justified on Monday their decision not to comply with the requirements of the Hong Kong authorities.

The new national security law imposed by China now allows Hong Kong to request social media information about the communication of their constituents.

Facebook, whose protection of personal data is regularly questioned, refuses to do so. The digital giant says it wants to respect freedom of expression "pending a new assessment" of the recent law. The social network emphasizes that it relies on a global procedure to respond to requests from governments to obtain information about users. The WhatsApp subsidiary reminds for its part that its end-to-end encryption protects the messages of 2 billion people worldwide every day.

A text deemed liberticide

As a reminder, last week, the Chinese parliament adopted Hong Kong's national security legislation, paving the way for radical changes and a potential authoritarian turn.

So far, Hong Kong, a former British colony that was handed over to China in 1997, provided certain freedoms are preserved, has unlimited Internet access. Unlike mainland China, access to Google, Twitter and Facebook is open.

The text adopted by the Communist regime in Beijing aims to suppress subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, in response to the protest movement launched last year against the central power in the former British colony. It is very controversial because it violates, according to its detractors, the principle "One country - two systems" supposed to guarantee to the former British colony freedoms unknown elsewhere in China.

On Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was "alarmed" by the arrests made in Hong Kong under this new law.

Internet spied on and soon school books

The authoritarian turn of Hong Kong, which is home to a large number of global financial companies, is denounced in the United States. Last week, the US Senate thus unanimously adopted a text supporting "human rights and democracy" in Hong Kong, angering Beijing. The senators also approved a measure that would ban the sale to the Hong Kong police of tear gas, rubber bullets and other equipment intended to suppress the demonstrations.

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VIDEO. Thousands of protesters return to the streets in Hong Kong

This pass of legislative arms has escalated tensions between Washington and Beijing, already in conflict over trade, the South China Sea and the new coronavirus. For its part, the British government decided to facilitate access to citizenship for Hong Kongers in reaction to the new Chinese security law.

The Hong Kong government has no plans to back down. Proof is this Monday: the Department of Education asked schools to "examine the teaching material, including books" and "remove them if they find outdated content or can be similar to the four types of 'offenses' defined by the new law.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2020-07-07

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