Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam vows to introduce amendments combating doxxing, fake news and hate speech at Legco meeting

The measures were among several legal amendments Lam proposed in her first Legislative Council visit of the new year

Lam also praised what she characterised as the chamber’s return to normalcy in the near-total absence of opposition lawmakers

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam attends a question and answer session at the Legislative Council on Thursday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 11:07am, 4 Feb 2021Updated: 12:11am, 5 Feb 2021

Hong Kong’s leader on Thursday vowed to bring in new laws to combat doxxing, hate speech and fake news, which she said had proliferated amid the coronavirus pandemic and the social unrest of 2019.

Speaking at her first visit to the Legislative Council of the new year, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor also teased a slate of other legal amendments that would require district councillors to take oaths of allegiance, allow qualified overseas doctors to be registered in the city, pave the way for rent control in subdivided flats and improve fire safety in old residential buildings,

“In the past two years, social turmoil and Covid-19 led to issues on the internet, especially on social media. We saw acts such as doxxing, making hate and discriminatory speech, and disseminating fake news,” Lam told lawmakers in the 90-minute question and answer session.

“It would be difficult to formulate a complete legislative proposal in a short time, but we would give priority to the more imminent issues such as doxxing activities.”

One of the more notable pieces of disinformation to grip the city in the past year were rumours at the start of the pandemic of impending shortages of supplies, which sent Hongkongers into a panic-buying frenzy – a situation also seen in other countries.

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