Versions of a protest song are no longer showing on Apple’s music streaming service after the Hong Kong government sought a court injunction to ban the tune, the SCMP has found.
The findings came to light on Wednesday, the same day the government publicised a writ of summons and other documents, calling on anyone who wanted to oppose the proposed ban to come forward.
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok last Monday filed an application to the High Court for an injunction against the promotion of “Glory to Hong Kong”, widely considered the unofficial anthem of the 2019 anti-government protests sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill.
The news of the application, which the court will hear on July 21, has revived the tune’s popularity. Several versions topped a list of most-played songs on streaming service Apple Music last week.
But an SCMP search for the song’s Chinese title on the platform on Wednesday only showed a Hokkien recording of the tune by Taiwanese rock band The Chairman.
Switching the IP address to locations outside Hong Kong gave the same result.
No song was shown under the page of creator “ThomasDGX & HongKongers”, who had earlier released different versions of the tune, including the widely circulated Cantonese and instrumental ones.
Versions of the song by the creator are still available to Hong Kong users on streaming services Spotify, based in Sweden, and KKBox, headquartered in Taiwan.
The SCMP has contacted Apple and “ThomasDGX & HongKongers” for comment.
The injunction application targets anyone who intends to incite others to separate Hong Kong from the country, commit a seditious act or insult the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers”.
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The writ asked the court to restrain those harbouring criminal intent from “broadcasting, performing, printing, publishing, selling, offering for sale, distributing, disseminating, displaying or reproducing” the song “in any way”.
The government’s counsel told the court at a hearing on Monday that the ban would not target “the world at large” but only those “conducting the prohibited acts now and intending to conduct such acts”.
The song has topped Google search results for “Hong Kong national anthem”, which has led to a string of mix-ups at several international sports events where it was played instead of “March of the Volunteers”.
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Legal experts have questioned the ability and willingness of Google and other US-based tech giants to comply with any order and an association representing internet service providers in the city has expressed concerns over responsibility for enforcing the ban.
Lento Yip Yuk-fai, chairman of the Hong Kong Internet Service Providers Association, earlier said providers might have to block city users’ access to some or all of Google’s services since they could not selectively block content covered by a court order.
The government on Wednesday said anyone who opposed the application for the interim injunction could obtain the relevant documents at the Wan Chai Division Report Room before June 21, and should file his or her grounds of opposition in writing within seven days.
