As the Chinese Communist authorities gradually tighten control over the internet, Hong Kong Satellite TV’s official account in mainland China was suddenly blocked across the entire web on Saturday (28th), sparking widespread attention online.
On September 28th, Epoch Times reporters searched for “Hong Kong Satellite TV” and “HKSTV999” on Douyin website. Apart from numerous videos discussing the banning of Hong Kong Satellite TV’s account, the official account with over 14 million followers has disappeared without a trace, and all its videos have been removed.
Furthermore, it was noticed that besides Douyin, on other online platforms under the ByteDance company, such as “Today’s Headlines,” as well as on social platforms like Sina Weibo and Watermelon Video, Hong Kong Satellite TV’s official accounts have all been shut down.
Some netizens observed that Hong Kong Satellite TV started operating on Kuaishou from September 18, gaining over 340,000 followers in just two days. However, when reporters searched for Hong Kong Satellite TV on the Kuaishou website on September 28, the account had also been blocked.
In terms of the reasons for the blocking, some netizens believe that the videos released by Hong Kong Satellite TV mostly lack mosaic censorship, potentially implicating privacy violations. Others speculate that it is highly likely that many contents of the account have exposed the dark side of Chinese society, conflicting with the official ‘main theme’ requirements.
On September 5, Hong Kong Satellite TV released a video reporting on a village secretary in Shandong province who refused to be checked for drunk driving, and the individuals shown on camera were not blurred. Subsequently, the Hong Kong Satellite TV account began to halt updates.
Reporters noted that apart from reporting some negative news from mainland China, Hong Kong Satellite TV also published some sensitive news in a manner different from official Chinese media reports, thereby attracting more attention from netizens.
For example, in May of this year, Hong Kong Satellite TV posted a video on Douyin titled “U.S. Department of Labor Official Urges International Companies to Withdraw from Xinjiang ‘Due to Forced Labor’.” The video resonated with many netizens. In the comments section, many netizens mentioned the presence of forced labor in Xinjiang, expressing that they themselves are victims of China’s high-intensity work market.
In January this year, some netizens discovered that Hong Kong Satellite TV’s Douyin account, when reporting on the Wu Xiaolei incident, claimed that he had prevented another student from posting “anti-China flyers.” However, Hong Kong Satellite TV did not conceal the sensitive content on the so-called “anti-China flyers,” triggering discussions among netizens.