Hong Kong police told a US tech firm to take down diaspora media site on national security grounds

A US web-hosting company has been issued a notice by Hong Kong police asking it to take down the website of Flow HK, a media outlet co-founded by pro-democracy activists who have left the city, on national security grounds.

Automattic, the company behind web content management system WordPress, told HKFP on October 7 2024 that it had received a take-down demand from Hong Kong authorities relating to the website of Flow HK. The company said it had not complied with the order and had notified the site owner.

In an emailed reply to HKFP, Sunny Cheung — one of the co-founders of Flow HK — said Hong Kong police had said the outlet was suspected of violating a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 and a separate security law enacted in March, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known locally as Article 23.

Cheung said police suspected Flow HK of committing offences including secession, subversion, and collusion under the Beijing-imposed security law, as well as sedition under Article 23.

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Flow HK was founded in early 2021. According to its mission written in Chinese on the website, the publication aims to connect the Hong Kong diaspora and “pass on the torch of resistance.”

Other editorial members include wanted activist Ray Wong, an ex-leader of political group Hong Kong Indigenous who was granted political asylum in Germany in 2018, as well as digital rights activist Glacier Kwong, who also lives in Germany.

[Edit typo.]