Hong Kong Watch visits Brussels to launch report on digital transnational repression

Yesterday, Hong Kong Watch visited Brussels to launch our new report on the decline of digital rights in Hong Kong and digital transnational repression against Hong Kongers in exile in the European Parliament.

In this second event to promote the report, Invisible Decline: Violations of Digital Rights in Hong Kong and their Impact, the audience heard from MEP Markéta Gregorová, Megan Khoo, Research and Policy Advisor of Hong Kong Watch, Ray Wong, Chairperson of Freiheit für Hongkong, and Matthias Hackler, Accredited Parliamentary Assistant for MEP Engin Eroglu, who was recently elected as Chair of the European Parliament’s China Delegation.

MEP Markéta Gregorová spoke about the importance of protecting the digital rights of those in the EU, including Hong Kongers and other dissidents. She also recalled the first time she heard about the Hong Kong pro-democracy anthem ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ being banned from Spotify and Apple Music, even in the EU, and was left wondering how this is possible given that the Hong Kong National Security Law does not have jurisdiction in the EU.

Megan Khoo provided an overview of the report, detailing the decline of digital rights in the face of the 2020 National Security Law and the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance and the resulting risk of digital transnational repression against Hong Kong activists in the EU. Mrs Khoo shared the increasing atmosphere of fear and self-censorship among activists in exile given the lack of a clear ‘red line’, including in cyberspace. 

Ray Wong shared his experiences with digital transnational repression, including his personal email being hacked multiple times. Mr Wong detailed how Hong Kong activist and political prisoner Joshua Wong’s private Telegram messages to activists during the 2019 pro-democracy protests were used as evidence in court. Mr Wong also explained how the Mika Yuen Ching-ting case, which is detailed in our report, has caused Hong Kongers to be very concerned about posting on their social media accounts even if they do not intend to return to Hong Kong, for fear of potential repercussions for their family members who remain in the city.

Matthias Hackler raised instances of digital transnational repression which has been leveraged against the European Parliament. This includes cyberattacks by APT31, a Chinese state-affiliated organisation, against more than 400 unique accounts connected to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in January 2021. Mr Hackler said that the European Parliament has increasingly been discussing digital transnational repression, and that “we must not leave it to authoritarian powers to lead the discussion around transnational repression”. 

Mrs Khoo concluded by highlighting the report’s policy recommendations to the EU Institutions, EU Member States and EU technology companies, including to review the regulations that EU technology companies are under and confirm that they are in compliance with EU laws and regulations, to include a digital component to defining and addressing transnational repression, and to review the status of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices in the EU as they may be used as vehicles to inflict digital threats against activists. 

While in Brussels, Hong Kong Watch also met with MEPs and their assistants, the European External Action Service (EEAS), and representatives from think tanks and NGOs.

This project is funded by a grant from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).

香港監察赴布魯塞爾發布數碼跨國鎮壓報告

香港監察昨天到訪布魯塞爾，假歐洲議會發布有關香港數碼權利惡化和數碼跨國鎮壓流亡港人的新報告。

這是第二場推廣報告《隱形衰退：香港數碼權利侵害行為及其影響》（Invisible Decline: Violations of Digital Rights in Hong Kong and their Impact）的活動。觀眾聆聽歐洲議會議員MEP Markéta Gregorová、香港監察研究及政策顧問Megan Khoo、Freiheit für Hongkong主席黃台仰和歐洲議會議員MEP Engin Eroglu的認可議員助理Matthias Hackler分享，MEP Engin Eroglu最近當選歐洲議會對華關係代表團主席。

MEP Markéta Gregorová談到保障包括港人及其他異見人士在內的歐盟人士數碼權利的重要性。她亦憶述首次聽聞《願榮光歸香港》在Spotify和Apple Music下架，連在歐盟也如此。她疑惑這種事怎麼可能發生，因《香港國安法》在歐盟並沒有司法管轄權。

Megan Khoo概括這份報告，詳細講解數碼權利在2020年《國家安全法》和2024年《維護國家安全條例》當前衰退的情況，以及因而引發的數碼跨國鎮壓歐盟境內香港社運人士的風險。她指出，由於在網絡空間等領域缺乏清晰「紅線」，恐懼和自我審查氣氛日漸籠罩流亡社運人士。

黃台仰分享他受到數碼跨國鎮壓的經歷，包括個人電郵多次被黑客入侵。他詳細講解了香港社運人士和政治犯黃之鋒2019年抗爭運動期間向社運人士傳送的私人Telegram訊息如何被用作呈堂證據。黃台仰亦解釋了香港監察報告所詳述的袁姓留學生個案如何令到香港人即使不打算回港，也非常擔心在自己社交媒體帳戶上發文，因害怕仍然在港的家人可能會受到牽連影響。

Matthias Hackler提出被用來對付歐洲議會的數碼跨國鎮壓實例，當中包括中國政府附屬組織APT31在2021年1月對與對華政策跨國議會聯盟（IPAC）有關連的400多個獨有帳戶作網絡攻擊。他表示歐洲議會愈來愈多討論數碼跨國鎮壓，又指「我們絕不能讓威權政權主導關於跨國鎮壓的討論」。

Megan Khoo最後強調這份報告向歐盟機構、歐盟成員國和歐盟科技公司提出的政策建議，包括審視歐盟科技公司所受制的規例並確認有關公司遵守歐盟法律法規；定義並應對跨國鎮壓時納入數碼元素；並檢視在歐盟香港經濟貿易辦事處的地位，因這些經貿辦可能被用作以數碼方式威脅社運人士的工具。

香港監察在布魯塞爾期間亦會見了歐洲議會議員及其助理、歐洲對外事務部，以及智庫和非政府組織代表。

這個項目由臺灣民主基金會（TFD）資助。