Google executive says company is committed to Hong Kong amid fear of search engine pull-out over potential protest song ban

The US tech giant’s government relations team is working closely with Hong Kong authorities, says Kathy Lee, Google Cloud’s managing director for Greater China
Concerns are growing that the world’s largest search engine operator may exit Hong Kong, as the city’s officials seek a ban on a popular protest song

Censorship in China

Xinmei Shen

Published: 7:30pm, 15 Jun 2023

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A senior Google executive in Asia said the US technology giant remains committed to Hong Kong, after the city’s bid to ban a controversial protest song sparked concerns that Western internet platforms may opt to leave the Asian financial hub.

Kathy Lee, Google Cloud’s managing director for Greater China, told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that the company’s government relations team is working closely with Hong Kong authorities, and that its cloud computing unit is committed to serving the city.

Lee, who spoke to the Post on the sidelines of an industry summit hosted by Google, is not an official company spokeswoman. The Mountain View, California-based firm said in a press release about the event that it wants to help “make Hong Kong a smarter digital city” through its cloud business.

Fears are growing that the world’s largest search engine operator may exit Hong Kong, as the city’s officials seek a court order to prohibit the online circulation of “Glory to Hong Kong”, a controversial protest song made popular during anti-government unrest in the city in 2019.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok last week applied to Hong Kong’s High Court for an injunction to prevent anyone with criminal intent from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing” the song “in any way”.

The Hong Kong government’s move followed a series of anthem-related mix-ups during overseas sport tournaments, when “Glory to Hong Kong” was played instead of the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers”.

Google refused a request by Hong Kong authorities last year to ensure that the Chinese national anthem appears as the top search result for certain keywords, saying it would not manually manipulate organic web listing. It pledged to continue to engage with the government and explain how its platforms and removal policies worked.

Tech experts have suggested that authorities could further promote the website of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau – which had updated its webpage to allow people to download the correct tune – and add better search keywords to boost its rankings in various geographic regions.

The national flag of the People’s Republic of China and the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region flutter near the Central Government Offices complex stands in Admiralty, Hong Kong. Photo: EPA-EFE

Google pulled its search engine out of mainland China in 2010, citing Beijing’s growing censorship of online speech, as well as cyberattacks on the company that it said originated from the country.

But under the “one country, two systems” principle, Google’s global search service remains available in Hong Kong, where Google.com was the most visited website in the city last month, followed by sister site YouTube, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb.

Google and other multinational technology companies are having an increasingly hard time navigating geopolitical tensions in Hong Kong amid Beijing’s tightening grip on the city and worsening US-China relations.

While most of Google’s suite of products remain easily accessible in the city, the firm has not made its new artificial intelligence chatbot Bard available to residents in Hong Kong. Local visitors to the site are currently greeted with the message: “Bard isn’t currently supported in your country. Stay tuned!”

Google has not disclosed market-specific plans for its ChatGPT rival, other than saying that it aims to expand Bard to more countries and territories. It said last month that “Bard is in its early days – and given how new the technology is, we want to roll it out thoughtfully and responsibly”.