China calls YouTube 'tool' for blocking next Hong Kong leader

CHINA said certain US companies were "political tools" after YouTube shut the campaign channel of John Lee, a former policeman in line to become Hong Kong's next leader.

The move showed the US was making "a vicious attempt to intervene in Hong Kong affairs and sabotage the chief executive election", Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday (Apr 21) at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

China "asked the social media platform to respect the fairness and justice of the election", Wang said, without providing details of that interaction. He added that Beijing had a "stern warning for some Western forces: They should immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China's internal affairs".

Google and Meta Platforms - whose websites are among the many foreign social media and news outlets blocked in China - took steps to curtail Lee's social media presence on Wednesday, thrusting the American Internet giants into the debate over a perceived erosion of freedoms in the city.

YouTube cited sanctions Washington placed on officials allegedly involved in quashing the pro-democracy movement that erupted in 2019, and Facebook prevented Lee, 64, from using its payments services, citing the need to abide by US law.

Lee was sanctioned in 2020 for his role in curtailing political freedoms under China's national security law. He said Wednesday he was "disappointed that some media have taken action based on the so-called reasons that I was sanctioned", and said the economic punishment "that the US government directed at me, for my efforts to maintain national security, is an act of bullying".

Alphabet's YouTube has suspended or barred high-profile figures in the past, including former US president Donald Trump, right-wing media personality Alex Jones and convicted sex offender R Kelly. Still, it is rare for the world's most popular video platform to ban content from election candidates. At least one pro-Beijing lawmaker, Holden Chow, urged the city's government to "deal with" the social media platform because the incident demonstrated "serious interference" by foreign powers in local elections.

On Monday, the Hong Kong government confirmed that Lee was the only candidate nominated for chief executive, clearing the way for him to take power after an uncontested election next month.

Beijing's Liaison Office told local elites - shortly after the current chief executive, Carrie Lam, announced this month that she would not seek a second term - that Lee had the blessing of President Xi Jinping's government, local media outlets including the South China Morning Post reported. BLOOMBERG