TikTok has said it will stop operations in Hong Kong in the wake of a sweeping national security law in the former British colony. The short-form video app’s planned departure from Hong Kong comes amid concerns from various social media platforms and messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Twitter over the possibility of providing user data to Hong Kong authorities. The social media companies say they are assessing implications of the security law, which prohibits what the Chinese government views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in the city’s internal affairs. In the mainland, foreign social media platforms are blocked by China’s “Great Firewall”. The new law criminalises some pro-democracy slogans, such as the widely used “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our time”, which the Hong Kong government says has separatist connotations.

Source: Irish Independent July 07, 2020 06:22 UTC