The Office of the Privacy Commissioner reports a 62 per cent increase in complaints in the first half of 2023, highlighting heightened public concern and ongoing enforcement in digital privacy amid expanding online activity.
Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog says complaint levels have risen sharply as more daily activity moves online, with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data receiving 2,990 complaints in the first half of this year, up 62 per cent from a year earlier. Privacy Commissioner Chung said on Commercial Radio that the increase reflected the faster collection, processing and use of data in the internet and artificial intelligence era, which has made disputes more common and raised public awareness of personal-data protection.
The largest category involved information and communications technology, with 867 complaints. According to the commissioner, many cases arose after people shopped online or applied for visas and later found that more personal information had been requested than they considered necessary. She warned that personal data has become valuable in the digital economy and can form part of a criminal trade, with information resold or misused by fraudsters and other offenders.
The office also said its anti-doxxing work has remained under control since amendments to the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance took effect in 2021 and made doxxing a criminal offence. By the end of last year, it had handled more than 3,600 doxxing cases, issued over 2,100 cessation notices and achieved a removal rate of 96 per cent. In the first half of this year it received only 144 related complaints, sharply lower than the thousands recorded in 2021, while online patrols found just three cases, compared with nearly 600 in the same period of 2022.
Chung said a recent seven-month prison sentence in a doxxing case showed the courts were imposing penalties with real deterrent effect. She added that the ordinance’s extraterritorial provisions allow the commissioner to order overseas social-media platforms and other foreign websites to remove offending material, and said most of them comply once notified. The office has also set up a five-year plan aligned with national priorities and, in June, launched the Hong Kong International Data Privacy Academy to attract privacy professionals from Hong Kong, mainland China and overseas for training.
Disclaimer: This content is intended for informational purposes only. Readers are advised to exercise their own judgement, conduct due diligence, or consult a qualified expert before acting on any information provided.
