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Jerome Taylor

24 Aug, 10 tweets, 4 min read

Hong Kong commerce sec Edward Yau just announced that a new film censorship law will be passed.

Two big items stand out.

National security censorship will now extend to any past films (not just future ones).

Up to 3 years jail HK$1m fine for showing unapproved films.

This comes after authorities in June announced they had updated the city's film censorship ordinance to include any content that breaches "national security"

uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/hong-kong…

@netflix

This could have repercussions for streaming platforms like @netflix, @HBO and @PrimeVideo.

For example, how long before content like this on Netflix is deemed illegal?

Here's a summary of what Hong Kong's new toughened film censorship law proposes.

The law needs to be passed by the legislature, which is likely given it has been purged of opposition.

Link: info.gov.hk/gia/general/20…

@PrimeVideo

The fact that Hong Kong authorities announced this new law as Nicole shoots "Expats" for @PrimeVideo is just 😘👌

@AFP

Hong Kong will scrutinise past films for national security breaches under a tough new censorship law announced on Tuesday in the latest blow to the financial hub's political and artistic freedoms -- @AFP

sg.news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-cens…

@SCMPNews

Hong Kong censorship law changes open door to retroactive banning of previously licensed films - @SCMPNews

scmp.com/news/hong-kong…

Past, current and future films rejected on grounds of national security can only appeal via judicial review -- ie, going to the courts.

This is another example of how Hong Kong's judiciary has become a key enforcer of China's curbs on political freedoms.

This is something foreign lawyers and judges must surely make themselves aware of and consider when it comes to deciding whether Hong Kong's legal system remains both independent of the executive & rooted in common law principles.

“The industry has a lot of questions. We have had meetings with officials, mainly to ask them what's allowed and what's not…. But the government hasn’t been able to give any concrete answer,” Hong Kong movie director Mable Cheung news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/compon…

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More from @JeromeTaylor

Jerome Taylor

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23 Aug

Someone was deeply unhappy about tonight’s visit to the vets

I must escape

But as soon as I do, it’s a terrifying world out there

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Hong Kong has always been a pretty transient place for white collar immigrants (I hate the word expats) and foreigners get used to leaving dos.

But I feel like barely a week goes by now without me hearing of someone - both senior & middle management - deciding to head overseas

Of the anecdotal cases I’ve heard personally, Beijing’s crackdown is a partial cause.

While it doesn’t tend to personally effect the foreigners leaving, it has irrevocably changed the city & blanketed this once outspoken, freewheeling town in a very different atmosphere.

But the most constant reason I hear is Hong Kong’s pandemic imposed isolation from the rest of the world — and the reality that this is unlikely to change any time soon.

This is not about weekends in Hoi An. Many foreigners haven’t seen family for two years or more.

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Jerome Taylor

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@Twitter

For the last few days pretty much every time I open @Twitter I get promoted content from these totes organic accounts that just happen to be push the Chinese gov’t’s narrative.

Most are new. This account opened in April.

#FoBack

Oh look, another #FoBack. Bio also just happens to share the exact same phrasing — including the extra space before “impartial” — with our buddy EdwardL10327994. Shurely shome mishtake?

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16 Aug

@AP

Some pretty explosive allegations by @AP that China may be running a US-style "black site" facility in Dubai

apnews.com/article/middle…

The AP was unable to confirm or disprove Wu’s account independently, and she could not pinpoint the exact location of the black site.

However, reporters have seen and heard corroborating evidence including stamps in her passport, a phone recording of a Chinese official asking her questions and text messages that she sent from jail to a pastor helping the couple.

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Jerome Taylor

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18 Jun

@AFP

Hong Kong's pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper hit the stands Friday a day after police raided its newsroom, with an extra-large print run and a characteristic message of defiance emblazoned on its front that read: "We must press on" -- @AFP

news.yahoo.com/hong-kong-demo…

Staff pushed on throughout the night to get the next day's edition out.

This time, they were surrounded by a gaggle of reporters from rival outlets documenting the seemingly inexorable decline of media freedoms in their city, an international media hub.

Editors settled on a simple front page featuring pictures of the five arrested executives. In a bold yellow font, they printed "We must press on", words the paper said CEO Cheung Kim-hung told staff as he was led away by police in handcuffs.

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4 Jun

@AFP

Breaking: Hong Kong's Victoria Park empty for first time in 32 years on Tiananmen anniversary as police cordon off venue -- @AFP

@AFP

Powerful combo picture has just hit the @AFP wire.

Shows Tiananmen anniversary vigils in Hong Kong's Victoria Park in 1990, 1999, 2004, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020 and... tonight

These pictures were all taken between 8-8.09pm -- the moment each June 4 anniversary when the crowds inside Victoria Park would normally light candles to remember those killed at Tiananmen Square.

Tonight, they are lighting them on the streets and in their homes instead.

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