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Hong Kong has spent more than HK$600 billion ($76.44 billion) on various pandemic relief programs over the past three years, forcing it to run a rare budget deficit.
Isaac Lawrence | AFP | Getty Images
Google and OpenAI, which it partnered with Microsofthave restricted access to powerful AI chatbots in Hong Kong as concerns grow about how China will affect its ability to maintain an open internet, The Wall Street Journal I mentioned Monday.
While the companies did not explain why, the newspaper said observers believe expanding into the city could expose the companies to accountability under China’s national security law, which criminalizes criticism of the government.
Hong Kong’s Ministry of Justice also recently sought to prevent Pro-democracy song, “Glory to Hong Kong” not released online and cited 32 cases in which it appeared GoogleYouTube owned. Court deliberations in the case are scheduled to continue next month, according to the magazine.
Other companies have also taken steps to filter content that reaches Hong Kong. Disney It chose not to bring two episodes of “The Simpsons” that include references to criticism of the Chinese government for its Hong Kong streaming service, the newspaper reported.
And apple It updated the privacy policy on its Internet browser late last year to say it might use a tool from China-based Tencent to warn users in Hong Kong about malicious links, a service it has relied on from Google in the past. According to the Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong users reported that Tencent’s tool temporarily blocked access to legitimate Western sites such as Twitter’s rival Mastodon, and cryptocurrency exchange. Coinbase and the GitLab coding site.
These events come amid a tense relationship between the governments of the United States and China. Some US platforms, such as Facebook and Google, do not operate in China due to its restrictions on freedom of expression. While Hong Kong has long served as a hub for international business that was able to allow for a freer flow of information, actions by the Chinese government in recent years have made its future even more uncertain.
The magazine referred to the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong reconnaissance As of March, 38% of respondents found either optimistic or very optimistic that Hong Kong could maintain free access to the global internet over the next three years.
“We remain committed to making information accessible to users,” a Google spokesperson told CNBC. “Although we’re still in the early stages of building Bard and expanding its language capabilities, we’ll be looking at ways to bring it to more places and people around the world.”
Representatives for Apple, Disney, Microsoft, OpenAI and Tencent did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Read more The Wall Street Journal.
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