After Facebook, Google, Twitter e Telegram, also Microsoft e Zoom they are considering stop responding to requests for information on user profiles that come from the Hong Kong government.
The decision of the internet giants comes in the light of law approved by China on June 30th, which criminalizes all utterances in support of the independence of the former British colony, making convictions easier.
For the moment, to the appeal of the big names in Silicon Valley only Apple is missing, who announced that they are still evaluating the new rules.
If tech companies make this new policy of closure permanent, Beijing could impose restrictions on them or even ban them from the market in Hong Kong and China as a whole.
The turn of the screw wouldn't make much difference to Facebook, Google, Twitter e Telegram, already stuck in mainland China, but it would be a serious blow to Microsoft, Zoom e Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, which instead normally operate in the Land of the Dragon.
To lose more would be the Apple company, which produces the fundamental components of its devices in China.
At the moment, Microsoft directly offers its Office 365 work app and LinkedIn social network to both Hong Kong residents and mainland Chinese citizens.
"As we would with any new legislation, we are reviewing the new law to understand its implications," a Microsoft spokesperson said. pause our responses to such requests while we conduct our review.”
As for the video chat provider Zoom, is headquartered in the United States, most of its product development personnel work in mainland China. "We are actively monitoring developments in Hong Kong - said a spokesman - We have suspended the processing of any data requests from and relating to the Hong Kong region".
Meanwhile, another very popular app, TikTok – owned by Chinese company Bytedance – announced that it plans to exit Hong Kong in a few days.
