Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Google, Facebook, and Twitter are pausing the processing of data requests from the Hong Kong government as they review a new security law that went into effect on July 1st. Google put its pause into place as soon as the law took effect last Wednesday.
“[W]hen the law took effect, we paused production on any new data requests from Hong Kong authorities,” a Google spokesperson told The Verge in an email, “and we’ll continue to review the details of the new law,” the spokesperson said.
Twitter also halted its handling of government requests as of July 1st, with Facebook announcing its pause on Monday, The New York Times reported.
Social media platforms typically produce private user information in response to valid court orders,…