Variations of HK protest song vanish from music streaming sites

Various variations of the 2019 protest song Glory to Hong Kong (願榮光歸香港) are unavailable on music streaming platforms as the injunction case applied by The Department of Justice to prohibit four items of unlawful acts relating to the song is still in progress.

A check by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE saw on Spotify that various versions of the song are no longer available for listening. Same situation is also found on another music streaming platform KKBOX. 

Moreover, variations of the song that dominated top 10 slots on Apple’s Hong Kong iTunes charts last Thursday have all been removed, except a Taiwan version of the song by Taiwanese rock band The Chairman, which dominates the first place of the chart.

According to Reuters, Facebook and Instagram's Reel feature also encountered the same issue, in which only the Taiwan version of the song by The Chairman shows in search result.

Commenting on the incident, DGX Music, the composer team of Glory to Hong Kong, said on their Instagram story that they "are dealing with some technical issues unrelated to the streaming platform". "Sorry for bringing the temporary impact. Thank you every audience," the story read.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Apple, Spotify, KKBOX, Google and Meta respectively for a statement.

Don't miss: 'It's hard to remove all items related to the protest song,' say IT experts after HK govt seeks ban

Most recently, The Department of Justice applied to the court for injunction and interim injunction to prohibit four items of unlawful acts relating to the song. The government seeks to ban the broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing in any way including on the internet and any media accessible online of the song. According to the Judiciary’s website, the injunction case was scheduled to be heard in High Court on 12 June.

However, IT experts MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out to stressed that it may be hard for the Hong Kong government to remove all sites or items related to the protest song. Ho Wa Wong, conveyor of Open Data Working Group, Internet Society Hong Kong, said that since some streaming platforms do not have offices in Hong Kong, it may be hard for the government to request foreign companies to remove related items or sites. "It depends on where the website administrator is and whether law enforcement agencies can find them," he said.

Related articles:

'It's hard to remove all items related to the protest song,' say IT experts after HK govt seeks ban
Hong Kong women’s ice hockey team reassures there would be no further anthem blunders
HK plans to improve SEO for government sites following anthem blunders
HK athletes asked to display 'T' sign as they spot anthem or flag blunders