Two men arrested over alleged media boycott campaign

Police said on Thursday they have arrested two men over an alleged boycott campaign targeting a local media company, but refused to confirm reports from TVB that the case involves the station.

The force alleged the two men – aged 18 and 26 – were connected to a Facebook group that allegedly contained slanderous messages against the media firm, its staff, and companies that took out ads with the platform.

“We’re looking into [a Facebook group] created in May 2020, which involve 2,000 posts targeting over 100 entities, to pressurise them to withdraw some kind of advertisements on that media organisation,” superintendent Wilson Tam, from the force’s Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, said.

He told reporters that the arrests were made not because of a particular word or post; officers had gone through all the posts and looked at the case in its totality, he said.

The 18-year-old suspect is accused of trying to pressure advertisers to pull their ads, with the aim of causing financial losses to the media company, or damage its reputation.

He’s being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal intimidation and inciting others to take part in unlawful assembly.

The 26-year-old, meanwhile, is accused of inciting others to attack staff from the firm, as well as police officers and their relatives.

Reporters asked officers whether the apparent boycott campaign was central to the allegations of criminal intimidation, and if calls for other boycotts – for example against the consumption of shark fin – could also be deemed illegal.

“I couldn’t comment on the case you mentioned about shark fin boycott or something because it’s all case by case,” Tam said.

The superintendent said officers have seized several phones, tablets and computers as part of their investigation, and did not rule out further arrests.