Hong Kong bloggers could be affected by rumour law, experts warn

Microbloggers in Hong Kong could also fall under the mainland's new rules on internet rumours if Beijing considers their posts "seriously prejudicial to national interests", legal experts warn.

The mainland's judicial authorities recently declared that anyone who posts an online message deemed to be defamatory and forwarded more than 500 times or viewed more than 5,000 times could be jailed for up to three years.

Hong Kong has its own legal system and enjoys judicial independence. However, legal experts in the city and on the mainland warn that people in the city who use mainland sites to post microblogs, known as weibo in Chinese, could still face the legal consequences.

While mainland police can't make an arrest in the city and there is no extradition between the two sides, people who post "libellous messages" could be detained and charged if they cross the border, said Professor Dong Likun, a senior research fellow at the mainland-based Institute of Hong Kong and Macau Affairs, a think tank under the State Council's Development Research Centre.

"If the weibo posts in Hong Kong disseminate false remarks with malicious intention and cause serious damage to the rights of the mainland [government], the mainland [government], as a victim, can sue the person [in Hong Kong] according to the damage," he said.

Alternatively, the mainland government "can take legal action under the mainland laws once the person is found to be on the mainland".

Dong said both options were complicated and would only be used in "very exceptional cases".