Google submitted user data to Hong Kong govt despite pledge: HKFP

Alphabet Inc.’s Google submitted user data to the Hong Kong government last year despite having pledged not to process such requests from the city’s authorities, the Hong Kong Free Press reported, citing the company.

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The tech giant complied with three of 43 government requests received between July and December 2019, the company told HKFP. One request was for an emergency disclosure involving a credible threat to life, Google said, while the others involved human trafficking and were supported by search warrants granted by the court. They were not related to national security and no user content data was shared, the company added.

Companies including Google, Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Twitter Inc. said they would stop processing data requests from the Hong Kong government last June, after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in the city, raising concerns about declining freedoms in Asia’s main financial hub.

Neither the Hong Kong government nor Google immediately responded to a request for comment.

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