The Hong Kong government’s application for a court injunction to ban Glory to Hong Kong came after Google said it needed proof that the song was illegal, the city’s technology chief has said.
Speaking on a Now TV show on Saturday, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said Google had not acceded to the city’s request to remove Glory to Hong Kong from its search results.
“Google said you must have evidence to prove that [the song] violated local laws, that [we] needed a court order,” Sun said. “Very well, since you brought up a legal issue, let’s use legal means to solve the problem.”
The government said last month that it was seeking to ban unlawful acts related to Glory to Hong Kong, the lyrics of which contain a slogan that has been deemed a call for secession. The legal provisos would also ban the melody, lyrics and any adaptations of the song.
Written by pro-democracy supporters during the protests and unrest in 2019, the song has been the subject of numerous anthem mix-ups that saw it played in place of China’s national anthem March of the Volunteers at international sporting events. The authorities have “strongly deplored” the mistakes, adding that the song is “linked with violent protests.”
The hearing for the government’s application of the injunction was adjourned to later this month. A Department of Justice representative said the injunction was aimed at people who “are conducting or intending to conduct” the distribution of Glory to Hong Kong to incite secession, sedition, or to violate the national anthem law, and that it did not intend to target “the world at large.”
The most recent known anthem mix-up involved the wrongful playing of Glory to Hong Kong at a men’s hockey game in Bosnia and Herzegovina in March. The sports federation representing Hong Kong at the Olympics warned in a strongly worded statement in April that it could suspend the association over the blunder, ordering it to submit a full written report on its “non-compliance.”
Anthem blunders
The first reported anthem blunder occurred last November, when the government demanded a “full investigation” into the playing of Glory to Hong Kong at a Rugby Sevens game in South Korea. The mistake was reportedly made by an intern in South Korea, who had Googled “Hong Kong national anthem” and played the top result.
Since then, the government has been calling on Google to pin the correct information about the national anthem at the top of their search results.
Until recent months, Glory to Hong Kong was the first result when “Hong Kong national anthem” was searched on Google.
In April, a government webpage about the Chinese national anthem rose in search rankings after it was updated. When HKFP checked on Monday afternoon, the webpage on the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau site was first in the rankings, followed by a Wikipedia page on the “National anthem of Hong Kong.”
Speaking on Saturday, Sun said Google initially had a “strong reaction” to the government’s proposal to place March of the Volunteers at the top of search results, and appeared to be “ready” to engage in a debate with Hong Kong authorities.
He added that the controversy had been one of his biggest challenges since becoming the city’s technology chief. Sun was appointed to the role last July as part of Chief Executive John Lee’s administration.
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