YouTube Shuts Down Channel of Future Hong Kong Leader

Today, YouTube pulled the channel of John Lee, the only real candidate for the 2022 Hong Kong Chief Executive election, the Associated Press stories. Despite operating unopposed, Lee started selling his marketing campaign on each Facebook and YouTube.

Who is John Lee?

John Lee is a politician in Hong Kong at the moment operating for Chief Executive of the area. Earlier this month, John Lee announced his intention to run for Chief Executive after formally resigning from his then place as Chief Secretary. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive is elected by a majority of the 1,500 seat Election Committee, and in keeping with a press release from the Hong Kong authorities, Lee obtained 786 votes. Bloomberg reports that this makes the election, scheduled for May 8, “fait accompli” that means already determined, principally.

Why did Google goal John Lee?

As of in the present day, John Lee’s official YouTube channel–JohnLee2022–is formally shut down, main customers to a 404 web page. The transfer was made by Google in an alleged effort to comply with U.S. sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officers reported Reuters, citing an announcement by YouTube and Google’s holding firm Alphabet Inc. These sanctions had been announced in 2020 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which named John Lee as one of many officers. The sanctions learn:

Today, the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on 11 people for undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy and proscribing the liberty of expression or meeting of the residents of Hong Kong. These actions had been taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13936, “The President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization,” which President Trump issued on July 14, 2020. E.O. 13936 declares a nationwide emergency with respect to the scenario in Hong Kong, together with current actions taken by the People’s Republic of China to essentially undermine Hong Kong’s autonomy and democratic processes, and offers for the imposition of sanctions on actors engaged in these malign actions.

The Department of the Treasury additional alleged that Lee, a former police officer, instated a brand new police power tasked with imposing a Hong Kong safety legislation, which is a extremely controversial set of legal guidelines in Hong Kong. Meta Platforms adopted swimsuit with an identical penalty, permitting John Lee to maintain his Facebook presence, however denying him the privilege of monetization, reports Reuters citing Meta.