Since February this year, the Telegram group of the communication software has re-emerged to distribute illegal "bottom-up" messages from the police, legislators, government officials and their families.
When it was reported that the authorities planned to ban Telegram, it is understood that the situation has intensified. On Wednesday (18th), 900 new bottom messages emerged in one day, and the latest number reached 1,000, which is 1.4 times the number in the past seven months. Most have not been removed.
While Telegram claims to ban "bottom" content, it also emphasizes that it will not consider any requests for political censorship or human rights restrictions, and any requests for political censorship or human rights restrictions, such as freedom of speech or assembly rights, "will not be considered. ”, and that the relevant management policies are common to each country or region.
News: Telegram has recently zero response to deleted messages
It is understood that, in recent months, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has seen repeated violations of the "bottom limit" message, most of which came from Taiwanese users.
The Office of the Commissioner has repeatedly asked Telegram to take action to delete it, but it has received fewer and fewer positive responses. The response rate has dropped from 100% in the past to 20% to 30%, or even zero recently.
According to sources, the authorities have issued an "ultimatum" to Telegram. If the company still fails to receive a proper response in the short term, and the relevant illegal information will be deleted, the Hong Kong government plans to issue a ban to local Internet providers, so that users cannot connect to Telegram, and they will be blocked in disguise.
It is reported that the Hong Kong government estimates that there are currently more than 100,000 Hong Kong users who are still actively using the Telegram application.
However, since Telegram does not have an office in Hong Kong, it was not directly in place when taking action.
Therefore, there is a suggestion to stipulate that communication software companies with a certain number of users must have offices in Hong Kong, otherwise they cannot use them, but this needs to be stipulated by legislation.
Telegram spokesman Remi Vaughn said in a reply to foreign media on Wednesday (18th) that he was surprised that the Hong Kong government was planning to ban Telegram, saying that "bottom" content has always been banned, but said any requests related to political censorship or restrictions on human rights , such as freedom of speech or the right to assembly, etc., "are not and will not be considered", and refers to the relevant management policies that apply to each country or region.
The message "starting at the bottom" reappeared instantly after deletion
According to the Telegram channel information, yesterday, the "Azai and Laodou Laomu" channel added another 1,000 messages involving "starting the bottom line". It is understood that although some of the messages were deleted, they reappeared in an instant. It is related to the policy arrangement of Telegram users.
According to the news, in the past seven months, the Office of the Commissioner has found more than 700 cases of violations related to "bottoming". , more than in the past total.
Privacy Commissioner Chung Lai-ling pointed out that if overseas platforms do not remove relevant information, the PCPD will issue a warning letter and complain to overseas counterparts.
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Privacy Commissioner Chung Lai-ling: 6 arrests were made for the criminalisation of "bottom" behavior
The government proposed to amend the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill last year to criminalize the act of "pricking". The new bill came into effect in October last year.
The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Chung Lai-ling said in the Legislative Council on Monday (16th) that after the criminalization of the "bottom", investigations were launched into 25 of them. A total of 6 people were arrested in joint operations with the police, and the other 66 cases were under investigation. .
Zhong Liling pointed out that the PCPD has issued 227 cease-disclosure notices to 12 online platforms, requesting the removal of more than 1,000 "start-up" messages, of which about 80% have been removed.
She pointed out that if overseas platforms do not remove relevant information, the Commissioner's Office will issue a warning letter and complain to overseas counterparts.
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