National security police arrest 2 over alleged seditious social media posts

Hong Kong national security police have arrested two people, including an insurance broker, on suspicion of publishing allegedly seditious posts on social media.

A force spokesman said on Thursday that the national security department arrested a man and a woman, both 38, on Tuesday. They were suspected of “doing with a seditious intention an act that had a seditious intention” under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

“The two arrested people, including a male licensed insurance broker, were suspected of operating pages on various social media platforms and publishing seditious posts that incite hatred against the constitutional order of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,” the spokesman said.

A source said the pair were suspected of managing social media pages for YellowInsurance, platform accused of posting content supporting the 2019 anti-government protests and arrested protesters, while smearing the Hong Kong and central governments.

According to the source, the man was former pro-democracy activist Wong Ka-ho, who later became a financial consultant at a local investment firm. Wong had held an insurance intermediary licence. The woman was a friend of Wong’s and did not hold such a licence.

Selling insurance products is a regulated activity in Hong Kong and brokers are required to hold a valid licence issued by the Insurance Authority.

The source said YellowInsurance had been active on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. However, a South China Morning Post search on Thursday found that the relevant pages were no longer available.

“After the national security law came into effect, this page switched to ‘soft resistance’ to fan anti-China sentiment and sow chaos in Hong Kong,” the source said.

The insider added that the messages were conveyed through “surreptitious means”, such as hashtags and acrostic poems.

The platform was also accused of promoting the now-banned protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” and other pro-protester “yellow” vendors online.

Under the ordinance, a person convicted of the offence faces up to seven years in prison.