Hong Kong’s John Lee urges Google to be ‘responsible’ and alter national anthem search results to make ‘March of the Volunteers’ top the list
- Lee promises to contact tech giant again after he rejects Google’s claims it could do little because of search algorithms
- But Lee insists a ‘responsible’ company would respect the importance of the national anthem and Hong Kong people
Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has said a way must exist for a “responsible” Google to fix searches so people who sought out the national anthem would get the correct “March of the Volunteers” in the top results.
Lee on Tuesday added the government would contact the tech giant again over the problem after he rejected Google’s claims there was little it could do to comply with the government’s request as results were based on algorithms used.
But one technology expert told the Post that legal action could force a better response from Google.
The move came after a series of blunders at international sports events where a song linked to the 2019 anti-government protests, “Glory to Hong Kong”, was played instead of “March of the Volunteers”.
Lee earlier highlighted that Google had removed wrong information from search results in line with a ruling last week by the Court of Justice of the European Union that the company had to take down anything that users could prove was incorrect.
“So there are ways to do it,” Lee said. “It is a matter whether a company acts responsibly and respects the importance of the national anthem in the global context.”
He added paid advertising could change the priority of search results.
