Court order on officer data targets doxxers not journalists, Hong Kong police insist

Senior cybercrime officer rebuts claims that news reporting will fall foul of interim injunction granted on Friday to prevent personal information being shared

He says it will only affect people who use leaks to ‘attack and intimidate our officers’

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Swalikh Mohammed said only people who use leaks to ‘attack and intimidate our officers’ will fall foul of the injunction. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Published: 12:02pm, 27 Oct 2019Updated: 11:20pm, 27 Oct 2019

The Hong Kong police force’s short-term court order against publication of officers’ personal information was not an abuse of power or a blanket ban targeting the media, it has insisted, saying it was only to protect its staff from doxxing.

The force also said it would notify the most popular social-media platforms and messaging apps of the order, which would require them to remove any published personal information that could breach the injunction.

The force got the interim injunction from the High Court on Friday. That sparked uproar, legal experts saying its scope was so broad that it would expose a lot of people, especially journalists, to legal risks. The order will be effective until November 8, when a second hearing will be held to consider an extension.

In an interview on Saturday, Superintendent Swalikh Mohammed of the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau said the order was a stern deterrent and would raise awareness among members of the public who think it is lawful to dox officers.

The leaks, he said, had affected officers’ work and caused stress to their families.