19th March 2023 – (Hong Kong) During recent international sporting events, including the Asia Rugby Sevens and the Asian Classic Powerlifting Championship, the wrong national anthems were played. Additionally, at the recent Ice Hockey World Championships held in Bosnia, the Hong Kong men’s team won against Iran in the group stage. However, during the post-match ceremony when the national anthem was played, a song associated with the Hong Kong protests was broadcasted instead of the correct anthem. The song played for approximately 10 seconds until athletes made a T-gesture to stop it.
The Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Professor Sun Dong spoke on a radio program this morning (19th March) and stated that the government has been in close communication with Google and has made multiple attempts to persuade them to remove incorrect information. However, Google has yet to take appropriate action. He believes that as a well-known international search engine provider, Google should fulfil its corporate responsibility by ensuring it provides accurate information to users.
Dong t also noted that Google still has numerous obvious errors in its information, such as defining the anti-extradition bill song as the “Hong Kong national anthem,” which clearly contradicts the facts. He emphasised that the dissemination of false information violates Google’s policies and could continue to be exploited. He hopes that the authorities and Google can work together to resolve the issue as soon as possible. He also pointed out that government personnel in the Innovation and Technology Bureau have been working hard to promote correct information and that websites that reflect accurate information have already improved their ranking on search engines.
Furthermore, Dong believes that Hong Kong’s scientific research capabilities have gained recognition both domestically and internationally, and therefore, Hong Kong should undertake more research tasks. He reiterated that Hong Kong must accelerate the construction of an international innovation and technology centre.