Telegram—Telegram refused to process any Hong Kong government data requests following National Security Law
After the Hong Kong National Security Law was enacted in June 2020, Telegram announced it would not process Hong Kong government data requests. Telegram stated: 'Telegram has never shared any data with the Hong Kong authorities in the past and does not intend to process any data requests related to its Hong Kong users until an international consensus is reached in relation to the ongoing political changes in the city.' Telegram had been widely used by Hong Kong protesters for encrypted organizing.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | -against | primary | +1.00 |
| Encryption & Privacy | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| User Privacy | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.737 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Telegram announced refusal of Hong Kong data requests on July 5, 2020 - first tech company to do so
On July 5, 2020, Telegram marketing head Michael Ravdonikas told Hong Kong Free Press that Telegram would refuse data requests from Hong Kong authorities until international consensus emerges over political changes. Telegram stated: 'Telegram has never shared any data with the Hong Kong authorities in the past and does not intend to process any data requests related to its Hong Kong users until an international consensus is reached in relation to the ongoing political changes in the city.' Telegram was the first tech company to announce its position, preceding Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and Zoom. Human Rights Watch praised the decision as 'doing the right thing' to protect users from NSL's 'very broad' provisions.