Government's digital footprint probed

The Office of the Ombudsman is investigating the management of electronic records on government websites and social media accounts amid complaints about information that can be viewed.

Ombudsman Winnie Chiu Wai-yin said yesterday her office will investigate whether the Government Records Service has provided sufficient support and guidelines to bureaus and departments on the proper archiving of information.

Around 70 percent of bureaus and departments have created accounts on social media platforms such as Weibo, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

The official GovHK also provides links to main websites of more than 80 bureaus and departments.

Chiu said complaints it has received show that information available to the public via official lines "may continue to be a source of concern or discontent despite amendments or removal of information due to specific considerations."

When and how bureaus or departments update their websites or social media accounts could become crucial in the event of inquiries of complaints, so it was vital to have proper preservation and management of records.

"Records are valuable resources enabling the government to learn from experience and make evidence-based decisions as well as meeting operational and regulatory requirements," Chiu said.

"As the use of information technology has become part of daily life it is a dominant trend for the government to make use of websites and social media in performing public functions.

"It falls upon the government to properly manage the voluminous electronic records that come with such usage in this digital era."

Under current management policy, any recorded information created or received by a bureau or department during its course of official business and kept as evidence of policies, decisions, procedures, functions, activities and transactions should be captured and properly kept in the record-keeping system. That includes records on official websites and social media accounts.

Chiu said the records service should have provided specific guidelines and support to bureaus or departments to ensure proper electronic records management. She added: "Therefore, I have decided to launch an investigation into the GRS to examine the management of records on government websites and social media accounts."

The scope of the probe "covers how relevant records are currently managed, whether the GRS has given sufficient and effective guidelines and support to bureaus and departments, and the results of the GRS's pilot projects and preliminary study on archiving government websites and social media accounts."

She was referring to two website archiving pilot projects launched in 2018 and 2022 and "a preliminary study of social media archiving in 2021."

The Ombudsman will probe certain bureaus and departments that have considerable data traffic on their websites or social media accounts. It will make recommendations "for improvement" and refer to records management work in other regions.

Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, said the goal of the probe could be to check for any guidelines on postings and how to keep passwords secure among users.

He said the Ombudsman would like to know how different government departments manage their websites as many are handled by internal staff or outsourced to other agencies.

Information and views from the public can be posted to the Ombudsman's office by November 24.

christine.tang@singtaonewscorp.com