Breaking news
* Facebook suspending review of government requests for user data from Hong Kong: Spokeswoman
* Facebook cites need to assess China’s new-security law and do human rights due diligence
*Facebook move follows earlier decision by its WhatsApp messaging service
(Article below will update)
The move by Facebook’s WhatsApp puts the U.S. tech company on a potential collision course with Beijing.
Photo: Liau Chung-ren/Zuma PressHONG KONG— Facebook Inc.’s FB 0.72% WhatsApp messaging service has suspended its processing of requests for user data from Hong Kong law-enforcement agencies following China’s imposition of a national-security law on the city.
The company is “pausing” such reviews “pending further assessment of the impact of the National Security Law, including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts,” a WhatsApp spokeswoman said in response to a Wall Street Journal query on Monday.
The move puts the U.S. technology titan on a potential collision course with Beijing, after China fast-tracked legislation that mandates local authorities to take measures to supervise and regulate the city’s previously unfettered internet.
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Facebook, WhatsApp and its Instagram service, along with Twitter Inc. TWTR 2.92% and Google unit YouTube, have long operated freely in Hong Kong without restrictions from China’s “Great Firewall” that ringfence mainland internet users.
Citizens in the city have long been accustomed to using them to express political opinions and express support for protests against China’s increasing influence, but in recent days some users and activists have scrubbed or deleted their social-media accounts for fear of falling afoul of the new law
Dubai-based Telegram Group Inc. said in a statement that was earlier reported by the Hong Kong Free Press that it doesn’t intend to process “any data requests related to its Hong Kong users until an international consensus is reached in relation to the ongoing political changes in the city.” A Telegram representative said in a statement that the company “has never shared any data with the Hong Kong authorities in the past.”
More
- Facebook, Twitter, Google Face Free-Speech Test in Hong Kong (July 3)
- China Appoints Protest and Propaganda Enforcer to Tame Hong Kong (July 3)
- Senate Passes Sanctions Bill Against Chinese Officials Over Hong Kong (July 2)
- New Security Law Prompts Rise in Self-Censorship
- What’s in Hong Kong’s New National-Security Law
Write to Newley Purnell at newley.purnell@wsj.com
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