Hong Kong protest song vanishes from iTunes and Spotify ahead of Beijing crackdown

Uploads of the anthem have skyrocketed on iTunes, where people can keep a copy even if it gets deleted. Photo: Vincent Yu/AP

The Hong Kong protest song has been removed from Apple Music and Spotify ahead of Beijing's new crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations.

Versions of the anthem Glory To Hong Kong are no longer available on online streaming platforms, access to which is carried out from within the territory, according to local reports, a week after the Hong Kong government requested an injunction against the song.

Social media and streaming sites, including Spotify, Apple iTunes, Instagram and Facebook, have had version of the pro-democracy song has been removed, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.

The disappearance of the song preceded a larger crackdown by Beijing. John Lee, Hong Kong's China-backed leader, said this week that Glory To Hong Kong was «inconsistent with the national interest.»

Officers said the song called for secession from China and called it «an insult to the state anthem.»

A government spokesman said «freedom of speech is not absolute,» adding that Hong Kong people «should not risk trying to break the law.»

Mr. Li said, «The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has a duty to protect national security, and we must do so proactively and proactively.»

Currently, Chinese officials are seeking an injunction against criminalizing the song. , including playing it online or «broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, or selling». The ban is being pursued under a controversial national security law introduced by Beijing in 2020.

After the injunction was announced, the number of downloads of the song on Apple iTunes skyrocketed. Unlike streaming platforms, buying a song from iTunes allows people to keep a copy even if it gets deleted.

Spotify told Hong Kong Free Press that the song's distributor has removed it from the streaming service's catalog.

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The news site spoke to a pseudonymous songwriter known as Thomas Dgx, who said the removal was «neither my request nor the decision of the streaming platform.»

He said: » The temporary removal this time is due to a technical issue, not political reasons.»

Apple and Meta, on behalf of Instagram and Facebook, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In 2021, Facebook, Twitter and Google have threatened to shut down their services in the former British colony instead of complying with Beijing's national security law.

TikTok, a social network owned by China. video withdrawn from Hong Kong in 2020 due to previous legal repression of its citizens.