Google has a “moral obligation” to prevent a pro-democracy protest song from appearing in search results, Hong Kong’s leader said on Tuesday.
Hong Kong authorities have been enraged by a series of blunders at international sporting events in recent weeks, when a protest song was played instead of the Chinese national anthem for the city’s athletes.
His anger has increasingly focused on Google after it emerged that the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” consistently appears at the top of the page when people search for Hong Kong’s anthem.
City official John Lee told reporters Tuesday that Google should ensure that the Chinese national anthem, which is used when the city’s athletes compete, appears at the top of the search page.
On Monday, Hong Kong’s security chief Chris Tang said Google had refused to change search results, calling it a “great regret”.
According to Chris Tang, a former police chief, Google said its search engine results were driven by an algorithm, not human data.
Hong Kong wants Google to react
Both Tang and Lee responded that Google had modified search results in the past to comply with local laws, including privacy laws in the European Union.
John Lee said his administration would reconnect with Google to pursue the matter further.
Contacted by AFP, Google did not respond to requests for comment.
China’s national anthem, “March of the Volunteers,” was born out of the Communist Party’s fight to liberate the country from Japanese occupation.
“Glory to Hong Kong,” written by an anonymous composer during the large and sometimes violent protests of 2019, has become an anthem of the city’s democracy movement, which was shut down by the government.
It is now illegal to sing the song or play its tune, under a national security law imposed to quash such protests.
Source: BFM TV
