Google provided user data to Hong Kong officials despite the promise of a moratorium

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Google promised it would no longer respond directly to Hong Kong authorities’ requests for data after the Chinese government imposed a security law in June 2020, but it appears the company has made a handful of exceptions. According to the Hong Kong Free Press, Google provided “some data” for three of the 43 requests from Hong Kong authorities in the second half of 2020. One concerned a life-threatening emergency, while two others concerned traffic. of human beings.

The internet company pointed out that none of the traffic requests were related to national security and were supported by signed search warrants and Google’s worldwide policy on requests. None of the three passages concerned the content. However, they weren’t even entered into under a treaty with the US Department of Justice that Google said would be necessary for future claims.

The answers are not entirely unexpected. Attempts to prosecute cases through the treaty could take months. It would be unrealistic to feed urgent, non-security requests through that system.

However, this illustrates the problems that Google and other tech giants (including Facebook and Twitter) have in trying to disengage from China on security law and, more recently, on privacy law changes. While companies can block applications, an outright refusal to comply can be difficult without leaving Hong Kong entirely.

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