Amendments to film censorship law to protect national security in Hong Kong

Hong Kong announced on Tuesday that there will be a change to the film censorship law and that it will be defending the national security.

Credit: Ground News

China implemented a national security law back in June of last year, hoping that it would take action against activities that would incite behaviour that would put the national security at risk.

This film censorship law will decide whether or not a film contains themes that promotes actions and lifestyles that are hazardous to national security. The law will also look into older films to determine if they could be re-approved for screenings.

If anyone disobeys the order and screens films of this nature, the perpetrator could face up to three years in prison, as well as a fine of up to one million Hong Kong dollars (approximately, £93,612.45).

In a news conference on Tuesday, Edward Yau, secretary for commerce and economic development addressed the reasoning behind this new bill. He said:

“We need this provision to cater for circumstances where a film which was created or approved before — but given the new law enacted and the new guidelines issued — there might be chances that we need to reconsider such cases,” - Edward Yau

The bill will face the city's legislative council next Wednesday to decide on if this new law should be passed.