The action has lead to accusations of interfering with Hongkongers' right to free speech, though the social media giant refused to remove the posts
Police in Hong Kong are facing accusations of interferring with free speech after it was reported that they have asked Facebook to remove posts containing what they claimed were defamatory or unfounded allegations about their handling of anti-government protests.
The social media giant will not delete any of the posts flagged by police despite two formal requests demanding it do so, which also included a call for the company to surrender all relevant information for investigation.
A message by opposition lawmaker Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, of the Civic Party, was among those complained about to Facebook. Yeung said he had simply relayed what television media had reported on the shooting of a student.
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Police raised concerns in a letter dated October 9 about posts published the previous month, including one alleging officers harassed a female protester during a car search in Tung Chung.
In its letter, publicly available on its official website, the force said: “As a global social media platform, Facebook absolutely has the responsibility to ensure that contents dispatched by its users are factual and in the public interest.”