US lawmakers push YouTube, Google to restore links to protest song ‘Glory to Hong Kong’

Congressional policy panel on China tells CEOs the companies have ‘far exceeded’ requirements of court injunction in removing 32 videos

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YouTube and Google are under pressure to restore videos of a song that was widely circulated during Hong Kong’s 2019 protests. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 12:30pm, 6 Jun 2024Updated: 12:50pm, 6 Jun 2024

Pressure is building on tech companies to reverse takedowns of “Glory to Hong Kong”, the controversial song widely circulated during the city’s 2019 protests but later restricted from public distribution.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bicameral, bipartisan panel that advises Congress and the US president on China policy, has urged YouTube and its owner Google to restore 32 videos removed as a result of a Hong Kong appeal court injunction in May, and consider alternative ways of complying.

“The steps taken by your company … far exceed what is required by the court’s injunction and will have far-reaching implications for the free flow of news and information and the freedom of expression,” the panel’s co-chairs said in a letter to the CEOs of YouTube and Google dated June 4.

In the letter, which was publicly released on Wednesday, Republican representative Chris Smith of New Jersey and Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, also asked the companies to disclose all demands made by Beijing or Hong Kong to remove online content, in addition to content taken down on their own initiative.

In May, YouTube blocked 32 URLs identified by the Court of Appeal as prohibited publications for Hong Kong-based viewers, according to a spokesperson for the company. Links to the videos on Google were also blocked, the spokesperson said.

The court had ruled in favour of the Hong Kong government that month and granted an interim injunction authorities sought last year over the song, which was created by demonstrators during the 2019 Hong Kong protests and is sometimes mistaken for the city’s official anthem.

The injunction bans people from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing [the song] in any way” with the intent to incite others to separate Hong Kong from China, commit a seditious act or insult China’s national anthem “March of the Volunteers”.