Why Hongkongers are desperate to download 'Glory to Hong Kong' song from internet
The Song 'Glory to Hong Kong' drew ire from the Hong Kong government after it was uploaded to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and got repeatedly played in error at international sporting events instead of 'March of the Volunteers', the Chinese national anthem
Pro-democracy protesters gather to for a singing rally of Glory to Hong Kong at shopping mall in September 2019. AFP.
Hongkongers are in a hurry to download a popular protest anthem after the Chinese territory’s government filed a court injunction that could in all possibility compel US tech giants Google and Meta to block access to it.
The song in question, ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ was written in 2019 became a rage in the citywide pro-democracy protest movement, going on to top the local iTune chart for two days despite warnings from pro-Beijing politicians to delete the song from residents’ devices. In fact, Glory to Hong Kong is a part of 32 YouTube videos, which could now be blocked and considered ‘seditious’ after the government’s filing on Monday.
The song drew ire from the Hong Kong government after it was uploaded to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and got repeatedly played in error at international sporting events instead of “March of the Volunteers”, the Chinese national anthem.
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According to a report by The Strait Times, the justice department applied for a court injunction to ban anyone with criminal intent from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing” the song.
As per a report in Financial Times, a local resident in her 20s who downloaded the song on Wednesday, following news of the government’s court request said she wanted to keep a record and was more concerned whether big companies would act in subservient manner to the court order.
Notably, the FT report states that as Hong Kong seeks to revive its status as a global financial hub, the government’s filing has revived growing liability concerns for foreign tech companies operating in the territory.
George Chen, Meta’s former head of public policy for greater China and now managing director for Hong Kong and Taiwan at the Asia Group in Washington was quoted as saying that tech companies like Google and Meta don’t have too many options in hand to deal with a court injunction and that they can fully comply, or partially comply with, or ignore, the order. Chen added, “Partial compliance usually means you block something only for local users”.
Meanwhile, YouTube parent company Google and Facebook parent Meta declined a request for comment. Apple and Twitter did not respond to a request for comment from the publication either.
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