On Monday, October 21st, Raja Krishnamoorthi, the chief Democratic member of the United States House Committee on Communist Chinese Influence, sent a letter to the American web hosting company Automattic Inc., urging the company not to comply with media censorship orders by the Hong Kong authorities.
According to Voice of America (VOA), earlier this month, the website of the overseas Hong Kong exile-founded magazine “Flow HK” was blocked in Hong Kong, marking the first instance of an overseas media site being blocked within Hong Kong.
In addition to the site being blocked in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Police wrote to the web hosting service company Automattic Inc. on September 3rd, demanding that they cease providing services to “Flow HK” and take it down completely, including its online services overseas. However, Automattic, Inc. did not comply with the request.
In an exclusive letter obtained by VOA, Congressman Krishnamoorthi praised Automattic, Inc. for not conforming to the demands of the Hong Kong police, stating that it was the “right decision” and commending the company for making a “morally and ethically informed decision.”
Krishnamoorthi further demanded that Automattic, Inc. confirm that they will not comply with orders from the Hong Kong government and requested the company to provide a complete copy of the orders issued by the Hong Kong government.
He emphasized, “Hong Kong’s practice of deleting legal content from the United States abroad using its National Security Law is unacceptable, and American companies should not facilitate such repression.”
The congressman condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s use of the National Security Law to suppress dissenters and criticized the spread of such practices overseas. “The Chinese Communist Party increasingly uses its laws, including Hong Kong’s National Security Law, as a mechanism to suppress voices of critics, even in the United States.”
Krishnamoorthi stated in the letter, “All American web hosting service companies should be aware that the U.S. Congress will not tolerate demands from the Hong Kong government under its so-called National Security Law to impose restrictions on Americans accessing these publications hosted by American companies.”
Automattic, Inc. founded in 2005, is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and primarily offers web content management services. The company has over 1,700 employees and operates in 92 countries worldwide. It provides services to various well-known online media and social networking sites such as WordPress.com, WordPress VIP, Woo, Simplenote, Newspack, and Tumblr.
“Flow HK” was founded by overseas Hong Kong citizens in early 2021 and also publishes a physical magazine. Its aim is to “face unprecedented historical trials and maintain the unique community of Hong Kong people scattered around the world, hoping to pass on the spark of resistance.”
Since its inception, the magazine has been viewed as a thorn in the side by the Chinese state media. On January 11, 2021, the pro-Beijing newspaper “Ta Kung Pao” accused “Flow HK” of being a “subversive publication” and alleged that it violated the National Security Law, calling on the Hong Kong government to stop its information from flowing into Hong Kong and prosecute and apprehend relevant individuals.
In early 2021, the Hong Kong authorities for the first time cited the National Security Law to block the “Hong Kong Chronicles” website containing a large amount of personal information of Hong Kong police officers and pro-establishment figures.
Subsequently, websites of organizations such as the Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC) operated by Washington NGOs, Hong Kong Watch, a human rights organization in the UK, the Taiwan Transitional Justice Promotion Committee, the “2021 Hong Kong Charter” initiated by overseas Hong Kong people, and the “June Fourth Memory – Human Rights Museum” have been successively blocked.