Censorship in Hong Kong is the suppression of speech or other public communication, which is a practice that can infringe upon freedom of speech. By law, censorship is usually practised against the distribution of certain materials, particularly child pornography, obscene images, sedition, separatism, state secrets, and reports on court cases which may lead to unfair trial.
At the time of the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong boasted one of the highest degrees of press freedom in Asia.Lee Chin-Chuan (1997). "Media Structure and Regime Change in Hong Kong", The Challenge of Hong Kong's Reintegration with China. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 160–161. However, press censorship had a long history in the British colony and was only abolished in 1987 with the handover in sight. Since the handover to China, Hong Kong has been granted relative legal, economic, and political autonomy under the one country, two systems policy. Hong Kong's freedom of speech, of the press, and of publication are protected under Article 27 of the Hong Kong Basic Law and Article 16 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.
Observers have noted a trend of decreasing press freedom in the territory, including physical attacks on journalists, acts targeted at liberal media and against their owners, withdrawal of advertising revenues, and appointment of compliant pro-Beijing chief editors. The decline in Hong Kong's ranking on the Press Freedom Index published annually by Reporters Without Borders has been vertiginous. It stood at 148th in 2022, a drop of 68 places from the year prior, having ranked 71st in 2015. As of 2025, Hong Kong ranked 140th on the index.
In 2020, under the Hong Kong national security law enacted by Beijing's National People's Congress, it was made illegal to incite hatred against the government of China or Hong Kong. Additionally, the Commissioner of Police was granted the authority to control online content that is deemed a threat to national security and to compel the cooperation of internet service providers in the investigation of any such content.
Censorship in colonial Hong Kong Censorship in colonial Hong Kong was pervasively enacted through a mixture of legal, administrative, and cultural controls that served imperial interests while constraining freedom of expression. According to Michael Ng, the common law system practised in British Hong Kong during the period under study was complicit in the imposition of an authoritarian form of law and order, and was more interested in preserving the British Empire's interests and maintaining the power balance in the region than in safeguarding individual liberties in Hong Kong.Ng, M. (2017). When Silence Speaks: Press Censorship and Rule of Law in British Hong Kong, 1850s–1940s. Law & Literature, 29(3), 425–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/1535685X.2017.1327695
From the mid‑19th to the mid‑20th centuries, the British colonial government routinely employed libel laws, prosecutions, and official vetting to suppress criticism—especially within the Chinese‑language press.Ng, M. (2017). When Silence Speaks: Press Censorship and Rule of Law in British Hong Kong, 1850s–1940s. Law & Literature, 29(3), 425–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/1535685X.2017.1327695
In film as well, from the 1940s through the 1970s, colonial authorities deployed censorship both for political ends, targeting communist content during the Cold War and policing content deemed violent or explicit for moral regulation.Lee, S. [李淑敏]. (2013). From cold war politics to moral regulation : film censorship in colonial Hong Kong. (Thesis). University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5353/th_b5194736 Anti-communist content produced by the Kuomintang (KMT) was also targeted, such as the case of China Behind (1974) which was banned for its bleak critique of communist China.
The colonial government used the Control of Publications Consolidation Ordinance (1951) to regulate publications and suppress freedom of the press. One notable case resulted in the suppression of the newspaper Ta Kung Pao for six months (later reduced to 12 days) for its criticism of the colonial government's deportation of the Federation of Trade Unions-backed fire relief organisation officials and use of live fire against protestors. Deportation was also used as a method to control politics in education. Lo Tong, a principal at a pro-Beijing, patriotic middle school, had been deported in 1950 for raising the People's Republic of China (PRC) flag and singing the national anthem at his school.Carroll, JM. A Concise History of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. 2007 pp. 237
Until 1995, colonial law allowed police to review and censor drama productions.
These practices reveal that the colonial rule of law in Hong Kong was not simply a guarantor of civil liberties, but rather a framework shaped by geopolitical considerations and the goal of maintaining colonial order.
Censorship after the handover Despite guarantees of free speech, public surveys in 1997 showed increasing fears of self-censorship by journalists of writings critical of the Central Government,Shemwell, Carolyn. pp.1–2 although journalists indicated in a survey from the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) that they overwhelmingly did not hesitate to publish criticisms of China, and that actual instances of direct pressure from the Chinese government to change news were very rare. Since the handover, Hong Kong newspapers (and especially English-language media) have increased their use of a self-declared editorial independence as a marketing tool towards international audiences.
In 1998, there was a controversy about remarks made by magazine publisher Xu Simin alleging anti-mainland bias from the government-funded broadcaster RTHK. Although pro-RTHK commentators saw Xu's comments as coming from Beijing, Central Government representatives distanced themselves from his comments. In 2001, the HKJA expressed concerns that government's and Tung Chee-hwa's "shrill rhetoric [in vilifying Falun Gong] threatens open debate by encouraging self-censorship".
Hong Kong's ranking on the Press Freedom Index published annually by Reporters Without Borders was 18th in 2002. Since then, a number of factors, particularly self-censorship, and high-profile incidents affecting the media have pointed to increasing erosion of journalists' ability to report the news in an objective manner. In 2011, HKJA Chairwoman Mak Yin-ting () commented on self-censorship due to growing business ties between Beijing and media owners, asserting that "Now, more than half of Hong Kong media bosses or high media management have been absorbed by the Communist government... They may consider whether reporting on some issues will affect the relationship between their bosses and the government."Hong Kong Media Practicing Self-Censorship: Survey. New Tang Dynasty Television, 3 May 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2012.Stone, R. (1998). "Control without repression: China's influence on the political economy of Hong Kong press system". Asia Pacific Media Educator. 4, pp. 160–161. That year, Hong Kong's ranking on the Press Freedom Index dropped twenty places to 54th place. In a report published alongside the index, it was noted that "arrests, assaults and harassment worsened working conditions for journalists [in Hong Kong] to an extent not seen previously, a sign of a worrying change in government policy.""World Press Freedom Index 2011–2012", Reporters Without Borders, 25 January 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012. Hong Kong's ranking in the index, which stood at 61st in 2014, gave up nine further places in the 2015 report. "Police misconduct" was cited as a factor. Journalists have complained about sensitive news stories critical of the government that they have been under undisguised pressure to change or soften. PEN Center believes that the controversy surrounding CY Leung's dealings with UGL were seriously under-reported in some media outlets. An increasing incidence of physical violence against journalists has been recorded, with the police being implicated in some of these, namely the HKJA noted that there were at least 28 attacks on journalists covering the Umbrella Revolution. All told, the incidence of censorship, political pressure to self-censor and intimidation is increasing, according to PEN American Center, International Federation of Journalists.AFP (27 January 2015). Hong Kong media 'manipulated': report. China Post. As of 2025, Hong Kong's ranking in the Press Freedom Index was 140.
During the two-and-a-half-month protests in 2014, the patchy coverage of events and viewpoints on traditional media turned young people to social media for news. The Guardian described the protests as "the best-documented social movement in history, with even its quieter moments generating a maelstrom of status updates, shares and likes." People placed greater reliance on alternative media, some of which were launched during the protests. Even the recently defunct House News resurrected itself, reformatted as The House News Bloggers.
Notable examples South China Morning Post Since Robert Kuok acquired the South China Morning Post in 1993, there have been concerns over the forced departures, in rapid succession, of several staff and contributors who were considered critical of China or its supporters in Hong Kong. Before the handover, their popular cartoonist Larry Feign, humour columnist Nury Vittachi were dismissed. Since 1997, there have been numerous departures of China-desk staff, namely 2000–01 editorial pages editor Danny Gittings, Beijing correspondent Jasper Becker; China pages editor Willy Lam departed after his reporting had been publicly criticised by Robert Kuok.Freedoms eroded to please Beijing: report , The Standard, 2 July 2001Vanessa Gould, Nelson Lee & Bryan Lee, SAR defends rights record , The Standard, 28 February 2001南早赤化 政協做老總. Apple Daily, 1 February 2012 Gittings complained that he "repeatedly came under pressure to tone down coverage of politically sensitive issues".Rushford, Greg (April 2002). "Cover Story: Hong Kong at a Crossroads". Rushford Report Editor-in-Chief Wang Xiangwei was criticised for his decision to reduce the paper's coverage of the death of Li Wangyang on 7 June 2012. Wang reportedly reversed the decision to run a full story, and instead published a two-paragraph report inside the paper; other news media reported it prominently.Pomfret, James; Tang, Sisi. Reuters (20 June 2012). . The Republic Archived from the original on 21 June 2012. A senior staff member who sought to understand the decision circulated the resulting email exchanges, that indicate he received a stern rebuff from Wang.Staff reporter (19 June 2012) "Journalistic ethics questioned at SCMP". Asia Sentinel Wang is mainland-born, and is a member of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Jilin; the paper has since stepped up coverage of the death and aftermath as major news stories."Here is the news – or maybe not" . The Standard, 20 June 2012 Reporter Paul Mooney, whose contract with the paper was not renewed in May 2012, said that the Li Wangyang story was not an isolated incident.Paul Mooney, Why I was kicked out of the "South China Morning Post"? iSun Affairs 28 June 2012
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