Carrie Lam admits lack of supervision of social media

Lax supervision of social media has led to the prevalence of fake news and anti-China and anti-police information, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said. 

Speaking ahead of Executive Council meeting today, Lam said the false and hatred-inciting information on social media were factors endangering national security, as they glorified violence and made some become “radical, extreme and go against humanity”. 

Such information has resulted in a man stabbing a police constable outside in Causeway Bay before killing himself on July 1, she accused. 

“This is sounding an alarm for Hong Kong society," she said, while describing the incident as an attempted murder. 

Lam said similar incidents did not happen by chance. 

“It shows that ‘black violence’, which has battered Hong Kong for long, has morphed from mass movement on the streets to private individual acts,” she said.

She said authorities would strengthen their enforcement actions against information inciting the killing of police officers, terrorism and overthrowing the regime. 

“The enforcement departments will fully investigate such information, bringing offenders to justice,” she said. 

Lam said various government departments would speed up the review and implementation of ordinances that could safeguard national security and stabilize social order. 

“Relevant departments will enforce education, enhancing the awareness of youngsters in abiding by the law and how to differentiate online information,” she said. 

“I have also requested all departments and government organizations to commit to safeguarding national security...They should not allow their work, such as education, broadcasting, culture and arts to be infiltrated by offenders’ glorified violence - which clouds citizens’ consciousness.” 

She appealed to citizens to openly condemn violence and not to find excuses for violence endorsers.

“They should not be misled by fallacies and pettifogging such as “government is responsible for the violence as well", “there are no rioters, there’s only tyranny” or “violence can solve problems sometimes”,” she said. 

“I also appeal to family, principals, teachers and even pastors to pay attention to the acts of youngsters around them and give advice as appropriate.” 

Lam sidestepped the question if it was illegal for citizens to pay tribute to the man who committed suicide after stabbing the police constable on July 1 with flowers on the streets. 

She said people who pay tribute in a pitiful and glorified manner to the man “going against humanity and attempted to murder a police officer” would endanger society. 
 
Meanwhile, Lam said that she would announce her last policy during this term on October 6, with public consultation being rolled out from today. 
 
She said she would also chair around 30 consultation sessions by the time, collecting opinions from lawmakers, representatives of different sectors and citizens.