HONG KONG: TikTok said Tuesday it will stop operations in Hong Kong after the city enacted a sweeping national security law last week.
TikTok said in a statement that it had decided to halt operations "in light of recent events."
China has quickly moved to censor Hong Kong's internet and access users' data after the law came into effect.
The online censorship plans were revealed in a 116-page government document released on Monday night that also unveiled expanded powers for police that will allow them to conduct warrantless raids and surveillance.
TikTok's departure from Hong Kong comes as various social media platforms and messaging apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Google and Twitter balk at the possibility of providing user data to Hong Kong authorities.
- Big tech unease -
Facebook and its popular messaging service WhatsApp would continue to deny requests until it had conducted a review of the law that entailed "formal human rights due diligence and consultations with human rights experts," the company said in a statement.
"We believe freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and support the right of people to express themselves without fear for their safety or other repercussions," a Facebook spokesman said.
Twitter and Google told AFP that they too would not comply with information requests by Hong Kong authorities in the immediate future.
"Like many public interest organisations, civil society leaders and entities, and industry peers, we have grave concerns regarding both the developing process and the full intention of this law," Twitter said in response to an AFP inquiry.
In less than a week since the law was enacted, democracy activists and many ordinary people have frantically tried to scrub their online profiles of anything that China may deem incriminating.
Monday night's document also revealed that judicial oversight that previously governed police surveillance powers in Hong Kong had been eliminated when it comes to national security investigations.
Police officers will be able to conduct a search without a warrant if they deem a threat to national security is "urgent".
"The new rules are scary, as they grant powers to the police force that are normally guarded by the judiciary," barrister Anson Wong Yu-yat told the South China Morning Post.
(With AFP, PTI inputs)