WhatsApp has suspended its processing of requests for user data from Hong Kong law enforcement agencies, in response to China's imposition of a new national security law on the city, reports The Wall Street Journal.

whatsapp

The company is "pausing" such reviews "pending further assessment of the impact of the National Security Law, including formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts," a WhatsApp spokeswoman said in response to a Wall Street Journal query on Monday.

The decision by WhatsApp comes after China fast-tracked legislation that allows local authorities to supervise and regulate the city's previously unrestricted internet. The controversial new law, which took effect on Tuesday, criminalizes acts that were previously considered protected speech under Hong Kong law.

As the report notes, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter have operated freely in Hong Kong for many years, allowing residents of the semi-autonomous metropolitan area to express political views online, outside the grip of China's "Great Firewall" that restricts internet use on the mainland. The fear is that the new law brings Hong Kong another step closer to the authoritarian digital censorship that ringfences mainland internet users.

Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram have been blocked in China for years, with the country's government favoring home grown alternative services that it can more easily regulate. Encrypted messaging service Telegram was also blocked inside China after it became popular with the country's human rights lawyers, while several domestic VPNs – which are commonly used to evade censorship and access services abroad – were shut down after authorities said they were unauthorized to run.

Western powers have condemned the imposition of the new security law in Hong Kong, and the United Kingdom considers it to be a "clear and serious" violation of the Joint Declaration that was signed between the two countries when the former colony was handed back to China in 1997 after more than 150 years of British rule.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

TheFluffyDuck Avatar
64 months ago
Watch Apple do nothing for the human rights of Hong Kong people. But a rainbow WWDC Lanyard? Eat your heart out.

Note: That's not an attack on LGBT people, but on Apple for being hypocrites in the issues they follow when it comes to their profit margin. I will gladly retract this if Apple takes a stand, but they won't.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
64 months ago
I believe this means Facebook is now a greater supporter of human rights and has more of a backbone when dealing with China than Apple. Who would have thought?
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
apparatchik Avatar
64 months ago
China not only blocks those services for censorship and political control but for economic reasons as well: they wanted to home grow their own services by blocking foreign competition. The West should block Chinese apps and services just like India did last week, unless the Chinese allow fair competition in the search, messaging, social network market, their apps shouldnt be allow to operate in The West.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kyleh22 Avatar
64 months ago

I believe this means Facebook is now a greater supporter of human rights and has more of a backbone when dealing with China than Apple. Who would have thought?
That's b/c Apple is profiting in China while the Facebook suite isn't allowed to operate there. It's much easier to have a hardliner approach when you only have upside potential.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
itsmilo Avatar
64 months ago
What did the UK expect when they handed it back to China?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chancha Avatar
64 months ago

Hong Kong always belonged to China. The Brits only leased it for 99 years.
Hong Kong belongs to its people, who happen to be ethnically Chinese, since the population is mostly made up by folks escaping from the Northern border, guess who - the Communist Chinese regime. The person you quoted was questioning the morality of the UK handing this place to the very same regime that those locals risked their lives escaping away from.

And if you have to be politically precise, the Brits "took" it from Qing Dynasty, which was taken over by the Nationalist (KMT), together with the treaties the Brits signed with Qing, the party "moved" to Taiwan, where in more than enough ways the island is an autonomously independent state. The fact that the UK decided to hand Hong Kong to the CCP, which was founded *later* than both Hong Kong as a city and also Nationalist China, is more than questionable if not disgraceful.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

WWDC25 Live Coverage Feature 1

WWDC 2025 Apple Event Live Keynote Coverage: iOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and More

Monday June 9, 2025 9:00 am PDT by
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts today with the traditional keynote kicking things off at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. MacRumors is on hand for the event and we'll be sharing details and our thoughts throughout the day. We're expecting to see a number of software-related announcements led by a design revamp across Apple's platforms that will also see the numbering of all of...
maxresdefault

Everything Apple Announced at WWDC 2025 in 9 Minutes

Monday June 9, 2025 5:21 pm PDT by
At today's WWDC 2025 keynote event, Apple unveiled a new design that will inform the next decade of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS development, so needless to say, it was a busy day. Apple also unveiled a ton of new features for the iPhone, an overhauled Spotlight interface for the Mac, and a ton of updates that make the iPad more like a Mac than ever before. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
liquid glass

Apple Announces All-New 'Liquid Glass' Software Redesign Across iOS 26 and More

Monday June 9, 2025 10:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a complete redesign of all of its major software platforms called "Liquid Glass." Announced simultaneously for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, visionOS, and CarPlay, Liquid Glass forms a new universal design language for the first time. At its WWDC 2025 keynote address, Apple's software chief Craig Federighi said "Apple Silicon has become dramatically more powerful...
iPadOS 26 Apple Newsroom

Apple Says iPadOS 26 is Compatible With These iPad Models

Monday June 9, 2025 11:22 am PDT by
Apple today announced that iPadOS 26 will be compatible with the iPad models listed below. iPadOS 26 features a new Liquid Glass design, a menu bar, improved app windowing, and more. iPadOS 26 supports the following iPad models:iPad Pro (M4) iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later) iPad Air (M2 and later) iPad Air (3rd generation and...
iPhone Car Key WWDC 2025

Apple Says These 13 Vehicle Brands Will Soon Offer iPhone Car Keys

Monday June 9, 2025 2:38 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. During its WWDC 2025 keynote today, Apple said that 13...
Apple WWDC25 iOS 26 hero 250609

Apple Announces iOS 26 With 'Liquid Glass' Design, Live Translation, Overhauled Phone App, and More

Monday June 9, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple at WWDC announced iOS 26, introducing a comprehensive visual redesign built around its new "Liquid Glass" concept, alongside expanded Apple Intelligence capabilities, updates to core communication apps, and more. Liquid Glass is a translucent material that reflects and refracts surroundings to create dynamic, responsive interface elements, according to Apple. The new design language...