London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Oct 03, 2025

Hong Kong police to launch hotline for public to report violations of the national security law

Hong Kong police to launch hotline for public to report violations of the national security law

The new development indicates that the NSL will likely not target "a small number" of individuals, as Carrie Lam once promised, but surveil Hong Kong residents on a massive scale.

Hong Kong police's national security unit will soon launch a new multi-platform channel including email, messaging apps, and a telephone hotline for the public to report on people suspected of violating the national security law (NSL), according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

If confirmed, this new development strongly indicates that the NSL will likely not target “a small number” of individuals, as Carrie Lam once promised, but surveil Hong Kong residents on a massive scale.

The SCMP reports that the informants’ identities would be kept secret and all intelligence gathered would be handled by the national security police.

A government source told the SCMP the setup would “create a deterrent effect for potential suspects, as there will be eyes and ears everywhere.”

Currently, a number of pro-Beijing politicians, organizations and groups in Hong Kong have set up similar, private hotlines and websites that encourage the public to report on suspects of violating the NSL. Those include, for example, platforms for the public to report school teachers who they believe have engaged in “professional misconduct.”

The Hong Kong police did set up a similar platform in September through which the public can inform authorities about protest activities. The police say the platform has received 1.2 million reports since it was launched, and that they have assisted on the arrest and prosecution of individuals. As of October 28, 10,144 individuals have been arrested since the anti-China extradition protests broke out in Hong Kong in June 2019.

The current proposal seems similar, but of a larger scale. It'd be handled by the police’s national security department, which has zero public accountability: By the national security law itself, the department does not respond to public complaints, including those made by the Legislative Council. This means that the public would have no way to find out how the department uses the intelligence it gathers.

Hong Kong Watch, a UK-based human rights group, described the potential new development as “dystopian:”


Under @hk_watch’s thread, many described the report system as “Cultural Revolution 2.0” — during the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, Chinese Communist Party Leader Mao Zedong mobilized grassroots citizens to report on their friends and families’ ideological leanings.

@Stand_with_HK, an activist outlet, compared the new development to the Soviet Union's Stalinist era:


Benjamin Cheung, lecturer on social psychology at the University of British Columbia, considered the chilling effects of this “hotline”:


And Hong Kong-based activist outlet @HKGlobalConnect pointed out:


Democratic Party Lawmaker James To says that this Cultural Revolution-style of report system would lead to distrust and eventually social disintegration.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×