Microsoft—Microsoft paused Hong Kong government data requests and stopped publishing transparency reports for the region after NSL
Following the National Security Law's implementation in June 2020, Microsoft paused processing Hong Kong government data requests and stopped releasing Hong Kong-specific data in its Law Enforcement Requests Report. Microsoft stated it would 'not comply with requests related to the new security law until we are confident we can do so in a manner that doesn't risk contravening our human rights commitments.' This positioned Microsoft alongside other major tech firms resisting potential NSL abuse.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | -against | primary | +1.00 |
| Democratic Institutions | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| User Privacy | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.553 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
Microsoft announced pause on Hong Kong government data requests on July 8, 2020
On July 8, 2020, Microsoft announced it was pausing responses to Hong Kong government data requests following China's imposition of the National Security Law. Microsoft stated: 'As we would with any new legislation, we are reviewing the new law to understand its implications... we are pausing our responses to these requests as we conduct our review.' Microsoft joined Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Zoom in refusing to process user data requests amid concerns the law could criminalize dissent and protests. The NSL banned acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with trials held behind closed doors and maximum life sentences.