Hong Kong outlaws video game, saying it promotes ‘armed revolution'
The game was removed from Apple's app store in Hong Kong on Wednesday, but remains available elsewhere.
Advertisement
But it had already been out of reach for many gamers. It was never available in mainland China, and earlier this month Google removed Reversed Front from its app store, citing hateful language, according to the developers.
ESC Taiwan is a group of anonymous volunteers who are outspoken against China's Communist Party. Their products, which include a board game released in 2020, are supported by crowdfunded donations.
The developers said that the removal of the game demonstrated how mobile apps in Hong Kong are subject to the type of political censorship seen in mainland China. 'Our game is precisely accusing and revealing such intentions,' the group's representatives said in an email.
In social media posts, they also thanked authorities for the free publicity and posted screenshots of the game's name surging in Google searches. They said the comments and pseudonyms selected by players in the game would not be censored, whether they were in support or in opposition of the Communist Party.
Advertisement
In its statement, Hong Kong police said the game promoted 'secessionist agendas' and was intended to provoke hatred of the government. They said that publishing, recommending, and downloading the game, or supporting the online campaigns that funded it, could amount to sedition and incitement to secession under the national security law in Hong Kong, offenses that can lead to jail sentences.
This is not the first time a video game has been used as an avenue for political protest that has incurred the wrath of Chinese authorities. Animal Crossing, an online game in which players could build elaborate designs of their own island, was removed from mainland China after players began importing Hong Kong protest slogans into the game.
Even though virtually all forms of dissent in Hong Kong have been quashed, the national security dragnet in the city continues to widen. Authorities have made widespread arrests under the law, which was imposed five years ago in the wake of massive pro-democracy protests.
Last week, Hong Kong authorities laid new national security charges against Joshua Wong, one of the city's most prominent young activists. Wong is serving the prison sentence of another national security charge that ends in January 2027.
Authorities last month charged the father of Anna Kwok, an outspoken activist living in Washington, D.C., accusing him of helping handle her financial assets. Kwok is on a list of people overseas wanted by the Hong Kong police, which has placed bounties on their heads by offering rewards for information that would lead to their arrest.
Advertisement
This article originally appeared in
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Why tech is so quiet on the California protests
With help from Alfred Ng and Anthony Adragna The explosive immigration protests in California have become a national talking point, with politicians, celebrities and major interest groups all weighing in. Notably missing is California's wealthiest industry — one with its own big stake in the immigration debate. The biggest players in Silicon Valley have been sitting this one out, even as Waymo cars go up in flames in Los Angeles and protests spread to the Bay Area. Tech companies rely heavily on foreign-born workers, and on high-skilled immigration in particular. And the industry was vocal in the immigration debate just six months ago, rallying for the H-1B and student visa pipelines that have reliably attracted talent to their workforces. Tech figures even seemed cautiously optimistic that Donald Trump's administration might help them loosen some of the rules, with leaders like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen trying to coax Trump into increasing visa numbers. The LA protests, however — and the militarized government response — have radically shifted the immigration conversation in ways that make even a powerful industry hesitant to try to tamp things down. Given the sharp divides in public opinion over the protests, and the deportations that sparked them, Big Tech is steering clear of a combustible situation. 'Anything that increases the tension around immigration will just make it harder for tech,' said Nu Wexler, a consultant who formerly worked in policy communications for Facebook and Google. 'In this culture of fear, I would be surprised if the large companies speak up,' he said. DFD called around to see where the biggest companies stood. Meta declined to comment on the protests, referring DFD to its November 2022 statement promising support for laid-off employees on work visas. Google and Amazon declined to comment on the record. Microsoft and Apple did not respond to DFD's inquiries. Trade associations restated their support for high-skilled immigration to DFD, while not directly touching on the clashes in LA. 'We need smart immigration policy,' said Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association. An analyst for the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said that restricting high-skilled immigration 'would be a serious mistake.' In one sense, the protests don't immediately implicate Silicon Valley. The ICE raids that sparked the uproar were reportedly targeting subsistence workers at Home Depot parking lots and car washes, as well as a 9-year-old LA elementary school student, not immigrants who came for STEM jobs. But the industry has been dragged in anyway. Former Trump aide Steve Bannon explicitly called out Big Tech when lambasting the protests during his War Room podcast on Tuesday. 'You control who comes here as citizens,' he said. 'Silicon Valley doesn't want that … they're hiring everybody in the revolution of artificial intelligence, they're still bringing 135,000 H-1Bs because they detest American citizens.' Bannon also came out swinging six months ago, when Musk started pushing on the issue — calling the H1-B program a 'total scam,' and Musk a billionaire 'toddler' solely focused on his own wealth. As POLITICO reported, then-incoming deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller was also working behind the scenes to slash visas for educated immigrants at the time. The tech companies aren't just trying to avoid being slammed again, though — they also have other business to worry about. As one observer put it, they don't want to alienate Republicans who can help pass favorable tax laws and ease up costly tariffs. 'High-skilled immigration never really ranks as a number one priority for any of them,' said an industry insider who asked not to be named due to consulting work with several major companies. 'It doesn't impact quarterly earnings, unlike the other issues.' They might not be able to sit it out forever, though. Rallies against ICE cropped up in San Francisco last weekend, with police arresting participants by Sunday. The nationwide No Kings protests against Trump set for the upcoming weekend are reportedly expected to attract thousands of people to the Bay Area. Wexler also thinks that certain developments in Washington could force big tech companies to get involved, noting that a policy change seriously impacting their workforces could 'push companies out of their comfort zone.' Macron's smartphone ban challenge French President Emanuel Macron is facing a host of legal, technical and lobbying challenges as he seeks to ban social media for children under 15, POLITICO's Eliza Gkritsi, Ellen O'Regan, Émile Marzolf and Klara Durand report. Macon is pushing for an EU-wide age verification law, but is threatening to go it alone if Brussels balks. 'I'm giving us a few months to achieve European mobilization. Otherwise, I will negotiate with the Europeans so that we can do it ourselves in France,' Macon said earlier this week. There's also the matter of who should verify the age of online users. Different wings of the tech industry — especially in the United States — have clashed over who should be responsible for checking the ages of internet users. Then there's the battle with the porn industry, which must verify users' ages under a new French law. That prompted the owner of Pornhub, Redtube and YouPorn to stop serving porn in France earlier in June. Trump's take on Obama 'Hope' poster The White House's Instagram account is making posters of alleged criminals that play off former President Barack Obama's iconic 'Hope' poster from his 2008 campaign. It has made five posts in this style since May, the first of which labeled Salvadoran native Kilmar Abrego Garcia as a member of the MS-13 gang, with an Obama logo on his shoulder. Its most recent post was a wanted poster for a man accused of assaulting federal officers in Los Angeles. The White House did not confirm or deny whether it is using AI to generate the images. The wanted posters aren't just needling Obama, perhaps Trump's greatest political foil — they're knocking off the aesthetic of artist Shepard Fairey, whose anti-authoritarian street-art roots gave the posters their cachet in the first place. Asked about the use of Obama's campaign imagery, Trump spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the posters were designed to associate Democrats with 'rioters and criminal illegal aliens.' 'The White House is always looking for creative, eye-catching ways to highlight the important work the Trump Administration is doing,' said Jackson. DFD also reached out to Fairey, who replied that the Trump administration's posts are the opposite of his original work's intent. 'Trump may be emulating my style, but we couldn't be more different on substance,' he said. post of the day THE FUTURE IN 5 LINKS Stay in touch with the whole team: Aaron Mak (amak@ Mohar Chatterjee (mchatterjee@ Steve Heuser (sheuser@ Nate Robson (nrobson@ and Daniella Cheslow (dcheslow@
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
China grants rare earth export permits after US trade talks, offers relief but uncertainty persists
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The high-level negotiations over China's export controls of rare earths is giving U.S. businesses some relief, even though it may be only for now. China has approved 'a certain number' of export permits for rare earth elements and related items, its commerce ministry said on Thursday, one day after U.S. President Donald Trump declared that Beijing would supply to the U.S. companies those key elements and the magnets made from them following a two-day trade talk in London. 'I will be one of the happiest people out there if, if in fact, China starts to, to release some of those heavy rare earths and allows them to get into the world economy because the world economy is going to shut down without those heavy rare earths,' said Mark Smith, chief executive officer of NioCorp., which is developing a new mine in Nebraska to produce niobium, scandium, titanium and an assortment of rare earths. Export controls of the minerals apparently eclipsed tariffs in the latest round of trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington, after China imposed permitting requirements on seven rare earth elements in April, threatening to halt production of cars, robots, wind turbines and other high-tech products in the U.S. and around the world. Negotiators from the two governments said they reached a framework to move forward, with details yet to be agreed to by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but businesses welcomed the developments, even though uncertainties persist. Important elements used in many products Rare earth elements are some of the most sought-after critical minerals. Despite the name, they aren't actually rare, but it is hard to find them in high enough concentrations to make mining them economical. They are also difficult to extract from the ore, and China over the past several decades has built dominance in the processing capacity, supplying nearly 90% of the world's rare earths. In the heat of the tariff war with Trump, Beijing on April 4 announced permitting requirements for seven heavy rare earths: samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium, citing the need to 'better safeguard national security and interests and to fulfill global duties of non-proliferation.' The elements China has restricted, such as terbium and dysprosium, are key ingredients needed to make permanent rare earth magnets withstand high temperatures. That is crucial for a variety of uses in electric vehicles, wind turbines and military uses like jet engines and nuclear submarines. Some of the other rare earths needed for those magnets are produced at the only operating U.S. rare earths mine run by MP Materials in California, but China remains the only source of nearly all of what's known as the heavy rare earths. MP Materials previously sent the heavy rare earths that it mines to China for processing but it halted that in April amid the tariffs. The company is working to expand its own processing capability as soon as possible, and it is building a new magnet plant in Texas. Looming shortages start to hit manufacturing Neha Mukherjee, rare earths analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, had previously predicted that most companies wouldn't start to run short of rare earths until later this year, but it appears some companies already have problems. 'The overall market stockpile exists, but looks like a lot of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), especially auto manufacturers, were not prepared, especially in Europe,' Mukherjee said. Some American companies have stockpiled, but they 'might start experiencing constraint if this continues.' 'Looks like most of the stockpile is still in China hence the bottleneck in supply,' Mukherjee said. On June 4, the European Association of Automotive Supplies said the industry was 'already experiencing significant disruption' due to China's export restrictions on rare earths and magnets. 'These restrictions have led to the shutdown of several production lines and plants across Europe, with further impacts expected in the coming weeks as inventories deplete,' the group said. Questions remain about latest trade deal Details are still scarce on any agreement on rare earths shipments from China. On Thursday, He Yadong, spokesman for the Chinese commerce ministry, said China will 'sufficiently consider the reasonable needs and concerns by all countries in the civilian field" in reviewing applications of export permits for rare earths and related items. He said that it is consistent with international practice to put export controls on rare earths because they can be used for both civilian and military purposes. China's limits on rare earths remain a threat In a note, Gabriel Wildau, managing director of the consultancy Teneo, wrote that even though there is an agreement for now, 'supply cutoffs will remain an ever-present threat.' That's because China's licensing regime for the export of the seven heavy rare earths and related magnets is permanent, despite perceptions at the time that it was an act of retaliation, he wrote. China "will probably not approve exports in sufficient quantity to allow U.S. customers to stockpile, ensuring that Beijing's leverage remains undiminished,' he wrote. 'Beijing may approve few if any exports to U.S. defense companies and their suppliers.' Smith of NioCorp. said even if the Chinese are offering a reprieve from their restrictions on rare earths, they will likely still keep limits in place on U.S. military uses. 'If I'm in the military and flying a jet or running a nuclear class submarine or a guided missile, I don't want that to fail because of high temperatures. So we have to have these heavy rare earths,' Smith said. Smith said he hopes to find a solution to the problem of America being almost entirely dependent on China for these elements. 'I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that we use this situation as our final learning," Smith said. 'Let's take care of what we know needs to be taken care of.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sudanese top illegal migrant detection chart
Sudanese nationals are now the most common illegal migrants detected in Britain within three days of evading border controls. Thousands of Sudanese have arrived via small boats over the last year, and are at times discovered at ports when boats are intercepted or lorries are found with migrants aboard. The latest Government data, however, shows them to be the top group not detected immediately on crossings, but within 72 hours of irregular entry. In the year to March, 21 per cent of those found within three days of crossing the border illegally were Sudanese. They were also among the top three nationalities arriving via small boats to the UK in the first quarter of the year. The data reflects the ongoing civil war in Sudan, which has created 14.3 million refugees, according to a new report by the UN refugee agency. Smugglers have lowered their prices for Channel crossings by boat for Sudanese nationals, as many cannot afford to pay the thousands of euros typically charged for such journeys. Bringing down prices is a response to the success that some Sudanese have had in sneaking onto boats intended for other migrants who have paid smugglers, or by jumping onto lorries and squeezing into the narrow space between the driver cabin and cargo bed. Whereas many small boat arrivals are intercepted, lorry crossings while hiding with the cargo are often not detected immediately. Munzir, a Sudanese refugee in Calais, told The Telegraph: 'When we find some people who bring the boat, we jump in. It's not easy for us to cross; sometimes the police will come and destroy your boat.' As the Sudan conflict enters a third year and a humanitarian crisis continues to unfold, refugees are likely to keep seeking ways to flee the country. 'The humanitarian conditions in Sudan continue to deteriorate, with the declared famine leading to acute malnutrition, starvation, and severe, widespread food insecurity,' according to the Soufan Center, a Washington DC-based think tank that focuses on security issues. Last year, they were the sixth-largest nationality arriving on boats, at a total of 2,695 people, representing a 63 per cent increase from the year prior. 'Sometimes you can negotiate with the smugglers,' said Munzir. 'We say, 'we don't have money', and sometimes they agree, because you see, if they don't agree and we start to fight each other, then the police will come.' In Calais, hundreds of Sudanese refugees take shelter in what many refer to as the 'hangar', a large abandoned storage facility. Charity groups deliver humanitarian aid around here each week, supplying people – many of whom are minors – with hot meals and medical care. In 2024, people from Sudan and Ukraine were the top two nationalities seeking asylum, with each group accounting for more than 870,000 applications. Flooding and heavy rains last summer further exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, displacing 200,000 people. Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers, manufactured by Norinco, a Chinese state-owned corporation, have been used in Sudan, and were likely exported there by the UAE in violation of an arms embargo, finds Amnesty International. Three in five people in Sudan are in need of aid, amounting to more than 30 million people – the first time that a single country has hit such a high figure, according to an April report by a consortium of aid groups. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
