The Hong Kong protesters are fighting for liberty, but major U.S. firms with business ties to China are siding with the authoritarian state. That’s not okay.
In the middle of the night on Sunday, pro-democracy protesters hauled a ten-foot statue known as “Lady Liberty” to a mountaintop overlooking Hong Kong as protesters clashed with riot police in the city below. The statue depicts an injured young woman in goggles and a helmet, holding an umbrella in one hand and a black flag in the other and proclaiming the protesters’ rallying cry, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”
The Hong Kong protesters are fighting for liberty, but they’re also fighting for their lives as Beijing tightens its grip on the city. Videos of riot police chasing and beating protesters in the streets—including one viral video of a “de-arrest” featuring a protester’s flying high-kick on a police officer—circulated Sunday on Twitter.
The high-kick video was shared via WhatsApp, a messaging platform owned by Facebook, one of the few U.S.-based companies willing to stand up to the Chinese government as tensions rise in Hong Kong. Last month, the social media giant shut down an attempt by Chinese officials to use “hotlines” on WhatsApp to track and monitor Hong Kong protesters.
Police had planned to use the hotlines to let members of the public post photos and videos of protest activity, allowing police to gather intelligence on the protesters. After suspending the hotlines, Facebook issued a statement saying “WhatsApp is primarily designed for private messaging and we take action to prevent...
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