YouTube Bans Hong Kong Election Candidate Lee Ka-chiu

Google and Facebook have acted against China’s candidate in Hong Kong’s upcoming elections. John Lee Ka-chiu (pictured) was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020.

The U.S. Departments of Treasury and State both listed Lee for his actions supporting China’s suppression of Hong Kong’s autonomy. For his part, Lee argues the U.S. is hypocritical.

But when you’re the only candidate, can it even be called an election? In today’s SB Blogwatch, we worry about semantics.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: Technical Automated Compatibility Testing.

Leekachiu, I Choose You

What’s the craic? Vlad Savov, Dorothy Ma, Kari Soo Lindberg, and Kiuyan Wong report—“YouTube Shuts Channel of Hong Kong’s Leadership Candidate”:

China has drawn widespread criticism
Google and Meta Platforms Inc. moved … to curtail the social media presence of Hong Kong’s sole chief executive candidate … citing sanctions Washington imposed on officials allegedly involved in quashing the pro-democracy movement that erupted in 2019. Lee … was sanctioned in 2020 for his role in curtailing political freedoms under China’s national security law.

Enacting Hong Kong’s own security law, Article 23, will be one of his priorities if elected, Lee has said. The bill mandated under the city’s mini-constitution bans sedition and the theft of state secrets, but has been on ice since 2003 when it triggered mass street protests. Beijing has effectively quelled dissent by imposing its own national security law on the city in 2020.

YouTube has suspended or barred high-profile figures in the past … but it’s rare for the world’s most popular video platform to ban content from election candidates [although it’s] unlikely to affect the outcome. China has drawn widespread criticism for stage-managing the race in Hong Kong … a semi-autonomous former British colony that returned to China in 1997.

With more, it’s Theodora Yu—“YouTube shuts down channel of future Hong Kong leader, citing sanctions”:

Unreasonable … bullying act
Google’s termination would impede Lee’s team from disseminating campaign materials and broadcasting his meetings with industry representatives, business executives and politicians, who are predominantly pro-Beijing members of an election committee that picks the chief executive. … The move probably will not affect Lee’s chances, as he is the only candidate.

“Google complies with applicable US sanctions laws and enforces related policies under its Terms of Service,” said a Google spokesperson. … After a “review and consistent with these policies,” the company “terminated the Johnlee2022 YouTube channel.”

Lee called the sanctions “unreasonable,” a “bullying act” and a means to “exert pressure to make him have hesitations” regarding the upcoming election. … Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee and a key member of Lee’s campaign team, said … it was regrettable but would not affect Lee’s campaign.

And Facebook? Tom Grundy and Hillary Leung asked—“The US sanctioned … Lee in 2020 for ‘coercing, arresting, detaining, or imprisoning’ people”:

Undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy
A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company Meta said that Lee could maintain “demonetized presences on Facebook and Instagram,” adding that they “have taken steps to prevent the use of payments services. … As a U.S. company, we operate under the constraints of U.S. laws, which vary by circumstance. If we identify accounts maintained by or on behalf of people on the U.S. Government’s list of Specially Designated Nationals, we have a legal obligation to take certain action.”

Lee … was among 11 Hong Kong and Chinese officials sanctioned by the US Department of the Treasury in August 2020 for “undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy” and “restricting the freedom of expression or assembly of the citizens of Hong Kong.” … Lee hit back at the US, accusing it of being a “hypocrite” that adopted “double standards.”

But but but … censorship! thegarbz disagrees:

Following the law of not doing business with a sanctioned entity is not censorship, it’s a political weapon used in international disagreements. Calling it censorship is disingenuous.

What’s Hong Kong democracy like, anyway? This Anonymous Coward offers a colorful metaphor:

Let us not forget that these “elections” have exactly one candidate. … Whilst before H.K. had multiple political parties, they have now all been exterminated—now there are several parties all with exactly the same viewpoints.

[It’s] like KFC having five … different names and you having to eat in one of them or you are classed as a subversive and arrested. Then strangely you “disappear,” but you get a “fair” trial … and you are retroactively tried on a law that was recently introduced to suppress any sort of disagreement.

Whatever happened to “one country, two systems”? Zontar_Thing_From_Ve has been there many times:

I’ve been to China and Hong Kong many times. … Nobody really and truly thinks Hong Kong is another country.

The 50 year agreement between the UK and China started in 1997. … The Brits [had] negotiated a 99 year lease that was about to run out [so] they agreed to give the whole territory back to China in a treaty that agreed to protect many of Hong Kong’s special privileges that did not exist in China.

[But] then a new dictator came in—Xi. This guy [is] very anti-democratic. When Hong Kong protested a few years ago, Xi saw the protests as potentially dangerous to his rule for life … so changed the terms of the agreement … by passing new laws to … make Hong Kong “unfree” and thus safe for China.

Black is now white, white is black, bad is good, good is bad. … All hail Glorious Leader Xi who will save over one billion Chinese people from any evil democratic thought.

Can we hear from a real local? Chung Ching Kwon has the feels:

His voters are 0.2% of the population—he wouldn’t need a YouTube Channel. Just text the 1,500 people on WeChat maybe? Or use Douyin, I really don’t want to see John Lee’s content anywhere near the platform I use.

And 0xdeaddead is fatalfatalistic: [You’re fired—Ed.]

As someone living in Hong Kong, this is kind of funny. Getting censored by the West is a badge of honor—after all, if you aren’t, then you aren’t doing anything right.

On the other hand, this also means that now we have to turn to Chinese internet for all our local information. So way to go America, you dun goofed again.

Meanwhile, Modusoperandi waxes sarcastic:

That’s too bad. I’ll miss his unboxing videos.

And Finally:

Tinder in 1966

Previously in And Finally


You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites … so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE. 30.

Image sauce: Stand News (used with permission)

Richi Jennings

Richi Jennings is a foolish independent industry analyst, editor, and content strategist. A former developer and marketer, he’s also written or edited for Computerworld, Microsoft, Cisco, Micro Focus, HashiCorp, Ferris Research, Osterman Research, Orthogonal Thinking, Native Trust, Elgan Media, Petri, Cyren, Agari, Webroot, HP, HPE, NetApp on Forbes and CIO.com. Bizarrely, his ridiculous work has even won awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors, ABM/Jesse H. Neal, and B2B Magazine.

richi has 596 posts and counting.See all posts by richi