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That has huge implications for tech companies that use the town as a regional base because of its relative openness and proximity to China and the Asia Pacific area, even when its roughly 7 million residents do not make up a significant slice of their customers.
“It is not a huge market, but is important symbolically,” mentioned Adam Segal, director of the digital and our on-line world coverage program on the Council on Foreign Relations.
Caught within the center
“Firms would be worried by the impact it has on their users, staff, and executives — as well as global concerns that they would be actively facilitating human rights abuse happening under that framework,” mentioned Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia coverage director at know-how advocacy group Access Now. Chima and different specialists say companies are prone to wait and see how far China will go in its crackdown on Hong Kong’s web, however exits from the town stay a chance.
“They may wait to see if the government makes a request, but then they will be forced to decide, and leaving is likely,” Segal mentioned.
The vaguely worded legislation additionally has a provision that states it will additionally apply to offenses from exterior the area “by a person who is not a permanent resident,” doubtlessly giving China the flexibility to take motion in opposition to any submit in opposition to Hong Kong on any platform, wherever.
“I think that is meant to have a general chilling effect on people everywhere, not just not particularly high tech companies,” mentioned Scott Kennedy, an skilled on China’s financial coverage on the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
And whereas that would result in a diploma of self-censorship abroad, Kennedy says there are questions on China’s potential to truly implement its guidelines on tech platforms exterior its personal territory.
“That’s something that’s a vast overreach by the Chinese, and I think they’d generate more pushback,” he added.
Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft mentioned they are going to proceed to look at the legislation and its implications on their companies.
“Our teams are reviewing the law to assess its implications, particularly as some of the terms of the law are vague and without clear definition,” a Twitter spokesperson mentioned in a assertion.
A Facebook spokesperson mentioned the corporate would conduct a “further assessment” of the legislation in session with human rights specialists. “We believe freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and support the right of people to express themselves without fear for their safety or other repercussions,” the spokesperson added.
“As we would with any new legislation, we are reviewing the new law to understand its implications,” a Microsoft spokesperson mentioned in a assertion.
Google, which additionally has operations and customers in Hong Kong, didn’t reply to requests for remark.
“These companies, particularly Apple, are really interesting because they have a lot more to lose, particularly given the amount of hardware that they sell in terms of iPhones as well as their manufacturing,” Feldstein mentioned. “I don’t know exactly where they’re going to end up … short of a lot of public pressure, it’s easy to conceive of a scenario where they try to also muddle their way through.”
Safe harbor
“It’s clear that the Chinese didn’t want to pass it simply to create the illusion that they controlled Hong Kong,” mentioned Kennedy. “They really want to control Hong Kong and change the facts on the ground.”
“If [Hong Kong is] a regional hub for you, or you’re there specifically because of the safe harbor it provides due to rule of law … it’s a challenge for you,” Kennedy mentioned. “I wouldn’t be surprised If every single [US company in Hong Kong] is considering their options about location, and the same for all of their employees.”
In the meantime, Hong Kong is getting a style — if not the total influence simply but — of life throughout the Great Firewall, and companies will probably be on their guard.
“Even Hong Kong lawyers are unable to provide clear advice or guidelines on what would amount to an offense — the provisions are so broadly crafted that they are capable of capturing even benign conduct such as slogans,” mentioned Sharron Fast, deputy director of the journalism graduate program on the University of Hong Kong.
“Censorship is coming,” she added, “and if the breathtaking pace at which we have seen implementation … is any indication, it will happen sooner rather than later.”
CNN’s Sherisse Pham, Eric Cheung and Isaac Yee contributed to this report.
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