"Google handed user data to Hong Kong authorities despite pledge after security law was enacted", 11 September 2021

Google has provided user data to the Hong Kong government in response to three requests made between July and December last year, making it the first US tech giant to disclose its compliance with requests from the local authorities for user data after the national security law was enacted last June.

Alongside other tech and social media giants last year, the firm announced that it would stop responding to any request for user information coming from the city’s authorities, unless they were made via the US Justice Department. The latest disclosure indicates a reversal in the company’s position last year.

Google “produced some data” in response to three out of 43 requests it received from the Hong Kong authorities for user information during the second half of last year, the firm said in response to HKFP’s enquiry sent in May.

One of the requests it complied with was an emergency disclosure request involving a credible threat to life, the company said. [...] The remaining two Google complied with involved human trafficking – it said the two requests were unrelated to national security and were supported by search warrants signed by a magistrate as part of an investigation. They were processed according to the company’s global policy on government requests for user information, Google added.

None of the responses included users’ content data, the company said. Google’s general policy on responding to government requests states that it may provide other metadata, such as subscriber information including name, associated email and phone numbers, IP addresses, billing information, timestamps and email headers. [...]