Google won’t alter search developments amid march song row
In July, Hong Kong celebrated 25 years since the British handover of power to China.
Hong Kong had requested that the search engine remove results for the popular protest song Credited to Hong Kong China’s national anthem should show as the top search result, with the territory’s leader John Lee claiming it was an “ethical issue” that played by Hong Kong athletes at two current events.
According to Google, which processes billions of search requests daily, “we construct ranking systems to automatically surface relevant, high quality, and helpful content.”
Google told the AFP news agency: “We build scale systems because we receive billions of search requests daily.
It declared. Last month, Glory to Hong Kong played at a rugby match in South Korea instead of the Chinese national anthem, March of the Volunteers. We do not actively alter organic web listings to choose a particular page’s ranking.
Last month, Glory to Hong Kong played instead of the Chinese national anthem, March of the Volunteers, at a rugby match in South Korea.
According to the Asia Rugby Association, staff downloaded the incorrect music after clicking on the top search result for the term “Hong Kong national anthem” on the internet.
While the Chinese national anthem was performed during an earlier rugby game, the title of the protest song was also displayed on the screen.
Glory to Hong Kong played earlier this month during an awards event in Dubai for weightlifter Susanna Lin.
On Monday, Hong Kong’s security head Chris Tang claimed Google had rebuffed the city’s requests, invoking the company’s algorithm as an explanation, and called this “unconvincing.”
He accused Google of double standards, citing the firm’s response following the EU’s top court’s ruling that the company must delete results about people if they can prove false.
Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry, stated on Wednesday that Beijing backed the measures taken by the Hong Kong administration to “uphold the dignity of the national anthem;
He stated that internet service providers had an obligation to provide accurate information.
Police are investigating whether the South Korean anthem mix-up violated Hong Kong’s national security law. Beijing enacted the contentious rule in 2020 to quell dissent following democracy protests, claiming it applies globally.
What is Hong Kong’s national protection law?
The tech giant, however, said it was in contact with Hong Kong’s government to clarify “how our platforms and removal procedures function, “We do not remove online results unless for particular grounds mentioned in our global policy documents,” according to the business statement.
The tech giant is prohibited in mainland China but accessible in Hong Kong and has an office there.
Mr. Tang and Mr. Lee stated that the Hong Kong government would submit another request to Google.
It is not the first time Google has clashed with Hong Kong authorities. After the national security law, the corporation ceased cooperating with Hong Kong authorities on data requests.
YouTube, owned by Google, canceled John Lee’s channel earlier this year, claiming that we had sanctioned him for restricting civil freedoms.