Google has stopped responding to requests for user data from Hong Kong authorities.
Angela Lang / CNET
Google will stop responding to requests for data from Hong Kong authorities with the search giant instead of sending requests for user data to a mutual legal assistance treaty with the United States that is being done in collaboration with the Department of Justice.
The move, first reported by The Washington Post, comes after a new national security law imposed by China restricted political expression. Although Hong Kong officials have said the law would only target a “small minority”, human rights groups such as Amnesty International are worried that police will use the new law as a way to shrink government critics with those found potentially guilty. against life imprisonment.
Google, Facebook and Twitter each announced this in July they allowed the assessment of the government’s requests in Hong Kong for user data to study the new law, with Google now taking the next step to respond immediately.
“Since the new National Security Act was introduced in June, we have not produced any data in response to new requests from Hong Kong authorities and that remains the case,” a Google spokesman told CNET in a statement.
“As always, authorities outside the U.S. may seek data necessary for criminal investigations through diplomatic procedures. We scrutinize all requests for user data carefully and push back too broadly to protect the privacy of our users.”
Sending applications through the contract with the Department of Justice is described by the Post as a “cumbersome process” that “can take weeks or months.” The paper notes that China has signed Hong Kong’s legal aid treaties with a number of countries, including Britain, Canada and Australia, after those countries signed extradition treaties with Hong Kong.
While the US currently has a treaty for extradition, President Donald Trump announced in July that he would “begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment” through an executive order, including regarding extradition .
CNET’s Queenie Wong and Richard Nieva contributed to this story.
