Rugby anthem blunders: Hong Kong authorities in talks with Google on how to prevent misleading search results
- Government hopes to ensure search engine results will show national anthem at the top, Chief Secretary Eric Chan says
- Move follows mix-up of ‘March of the Volunteers’ with protest song at South Korean rugby tournament, but Chan says no evidence incident had ‘political aim’
Hong Kong authorities are discussing with Google and YouTube how to prevent misleading information about the Chinese national anthem from appearing as a top search result on their sites, after a series of mix-ups involving the song overseas, the city’s No 2 official has said.
Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki on Friday said the government would ask the tech giants to ensure search engine results showed the national anthem at the top, as he noted songs related to Hong Kong independence would appear for keywords such as “Hong Kong” and “national anthem”.
“We can definitely tell them what should be put at the top and what should be buried. There are ways to achieve that,” he told a media gathering organised by Hong Kong News Executives’ Association on Friday. “But whether the companies will comply is another issue.”
Chan also said Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong was in talks with Google and YouTube about the blunder on November 13 when “Glory to Hong Kong”, a song associated with the 2019 anti-government protests, was played instead of the Chinese national anthem, “March of the Volunteers”, at a rugby match in Incheon, South Korea. The national anthem was also mislabelled in a broadcast graphic in two earlier rugby matches.
YouTube is a an online video sharing platform owned by Google. The Post has reached out to Google for comment.
Asia Rugby, the organisers of the Incheon tournament, earlier admitted that the wrong song had been downloaded from the internet and apologised for the mix-up.
Chan said authorities had contacted Google because they had found there was a song claiming to be Hong Kong’s national anthem available for download in the search results, even though it was “factually wrong” as the city did not have its own official tune.