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China's new national security law for Hong Kong could scramble Big Tech's business there

07 July 2020
Dan Ackermann

Big Tech companies are scrambling to figure out what China's imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong means for their businesses there.

The big picture: Tech companies, like other multinationals, had long seen bases in Hong Kong as a way to operate close to China without being subject to many of that country's most stringent laws. Now they likely must choose between accepting onerous data-sharing and censorship requirements, or leaving Hong Kong.

Driving the news:

  • Under the new law, passed last week, companies doing business in Hong Kong are required to hand over a wide range of customer information and comply with censorship requests.
  • For now, many of the big tech companies said they have temporarily paused all responses to data requests from Hong Kong authorities as they seek to understand the law's implications.
  • Chinese-owned TikTok, meanwhile, said it would pull its app from the Hong Kong market as it seeks to maintain the distinctions between its popular international app and a similar service its parent company ByteDance runs inside China.
  • ByteDance has said that TikTok hasn't shared data with the Chinese government nor would it, a position it probably could not maintain were it to continue being made available in Hong Kong.

Yes, but: These pauses aren't seen as anything but a very short-term solution. In the long term, companies will likely face the choice of doing business in Hong Kong the way China wants, or picking up stakes and moving employees elsewhere in Asia.

Be smart: The big U.S. tech companies have taken different approaches when it comes to doing business in China.

  • Apple and Microsoft do significant business in China, while Facebook and Twitter don't.
  • Google at one time had operations in China, but very publicly pulled out in 2010. (Since 2018, there have been reports the company is weighing a reentry, though CEO Sundar Pichai has stressed there are no current plans to resume offering search in mainland China.)

Our thought bubble, via Axios China's Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian: The global future of digital free speech may hinge in part on what these companies decide over the coming weeks.

  • China's new national security law for Hong Kong states clearly that all of its provisions apply to every person in the world, and the new internet laws require individuals working at internet firms to hand over data and comply with censorship requests, or else face a year in jail and large fines.

What they’re saying: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Zoom have all paused their processing of user data requests from Hong Kong authorities and said they’re reviewing the details of the new law. Twitter in a statement said it has “grave concerns regarding both the developing process and the full intention of this law.”

What's next: Companies that have operations in Hong Kong could consider moving operations to Taiwan to stay close to China without being subject to the new Hong Kong law. Other companies may decide to locate regional operations elsewhere in Asia, while still others may choose to continue in Hong Kong and deal with the added restrictions.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.