【Article 23 Legislation】Bloomberg Reports Hong Kong Plans to Ban Telegram; Paul Lam: Absolutely No Such Thing
【23條立法】彭博報導香港擬禁用Telegram 林定國：絕無此事
Among the “other views” submitted by members of the public during the Article 23 consultation, the authorities listed suggestions including withdrawing websites such as Facebook and YouTube from the Hong Kong market and banning encrypted communications software such as Telegram. Bloomberg cited these views in a report. At a Legislative Council joint meeting, New People’s Party lawmaker Regina Ip criticised the report for causing panic among “talents”. Secretary for Justice Paul Lam clarified that there was absolutely no intention to ban any social media, and that the target was only conduct involving the “use, abuse or misuse” of tools to disseminate acts endangering national security. He said he had strong reason to suspect that someone was “afraid that the world would not be in chaos” and was trying to obstruct the legislation. The captain of “the Response and Rebuttal Team”, Chris Tang, said someone had deliberately selected one or two sentences during the consultation to mislead the public.
當局列出市民在23條諮詢期間提出的「其他意見」，包括將Facebook、YouTube 等網站撤出香港市場、禁止使用Telegram等加密通訊軟件，被彭博社引述意見報導。在立法會聯席會議上，新民黨葉劉淑儀批評報導引起「優才」恐慌。律政司司長林定國澄清絕無意圖禁制任何社交媒體，只針對「利用、濫用、誤用」工具散播危害國安的行為，他極有理由質疑有人「唯恐天下不亂」阻止立法，「反駁隊」隊長鄧炳強指有人在諮詢期間故意挑選一兩句誤導市民。