A Hong Kong court on Wednesday granted a government request to ban a popular pro-democracy anthem, raising further concerns about free speech in the city.

香港一家法院周三批准了政府的请求，禁止了一首广受欢迎的民主赞歌，进一步引发人们对香港言论自由的担忧。

The decision, which overturned an initial ruling, could give the government power to force Google and other tech companies to restrict online access to the song in Hong Kong. The decision threatens to deepen anxiety about the city’s status as an international gateway to China, away from its censorship controls.

该决定推翻了最初的裁决，可能会赋予政府权力，迫使谷歌和其他科技公司限制这首歌在香港的在线访问。这一裁决可能会加深人们对于香港是否还能充当不受审查控制的中国国际门户的担忧。

At issue in the case is “Glory to Hong Kong,” which emerged in 2019 as an unofficial anthem for democracy protests and a flashpoint for the authorities, who considered it an insult to China’s national anthem. The song has been banned from Hong Kong schools and has drawn angry official rebukes when played, apparently by mistake, at international sports events.

此案的焦点是《愿荣光归香港》，这首歌于2019年成为民主抗议活动的非官方赞歌，也成为引发当局愤怒的导火索，认为它是对中国国歌的侮辱。这首歌已在学校被列为禁歌，在国际体育赛事上播放时（显然是由于失误）也遭到了愤怒的官方谴责。

Beijing has asserted greater control over the former British colony in recent years by imposing a national security law that has crushed nearly all forms of dissent. People convicted of posting seditious content online have gone to prison.

近年来，北京通过实施国家安全法，压制了几乎所有形式的异议，加强了对这个前英国殖民地的控制。在网上发布煽动性内容而被定罪的人已经入狱。

Lin Jian, a spokesman of China’s foreign ministry, said in a news briefing that the court’s verdict was a “legitimate and necessary move by Hong Kong to fulfill its constitutional responsibility of safeguarding national security and the dignity of the national anthem.”

中国外交部发言人林剑在新闻发布会上表示，法院的裁决是“香港特区履行维护国家安全和国歌尊严宪制责任的正当必要举措”。

In March, the Hong Kong government enacted new security legislation that criminalized offenses like “external interference” and the theft of state secrets, creating potential risks for multinational companies operating in the Asian financial center.

今年3月，香港政府颁布了新的安全立法，将“外部干涉”和窃取国家机密等违法行为定为刑事犯罪，给在这个亚洲金融中心经营的跨国公司带来了潜在风险。

In the “Glory to Hong Kong” case, a lower court judge ruled against the government last July and warned that an injunction against the song would cause a “chilling effect” in Hong Kong.

在《愿荣光归香港》一案中，去年7月，一名下级法院法官做出了不利于政府的裁决，并警告，对这首歌的禁令将在香港造成“寒蝉效应”。

But in flipping that decision, three appellate judges said Wednesday that the anthem was a “weapon” that could be used to undermine national security.

但三名上诉法官周三推翻了这一裁决，称这首歌是可以用来破坏国家安全的“武器”。

“It has the effect of justifying and even romanticizing and glorifying the unlawful and violent acts inflicted on Hong Kong in the past few years, arousing and rekindling strong emotions and the desire to violent confrontations,” the court wrote.

法院写道：“其作用是将过去几年在香港发生的非法暴力行为合理化，甚至浪漫化和美化，唤起并重新点燃强烈的情绪和暴力对抗的欲望。”

The petition does not name any companies or individuals but listed 32 links to videos of “Glory to Hong Kong” on YouTube or its sibling company, Google.

判决书没有点名任何公司或个人，但列出了YouTube及其姊妹公司谷歌上《愿荣光归香港》视频的32个链接。

The government injunction, the court said, was “necessary to persuade” technology companies to “remove” the songs from their platforms.

法院表示，政府的禁制令对于说服科技公司从其平台上“删除”这些歌曲是“必要的”。

A representative for Google said the company was reviewing the court’s ruling and declined to comment further.

谷歌的一名代表表示，该公司正在审查法院裁决，并拒绝进一步置评。

Analysts said that the verdict could compel YouTube to make the song unavailable in Hong Kong. It could also force Google to ensure that videos about “Glory to Hong Kong” are no longer listed in search results.

分析人士表示，该判决可能会迫使YouTube在香港屏蔽这首歌。它还可能迫使谷歌确保有关《愿荣光归香港》的视频不再出现在搜索结果中。

Lokman Tsui, a research fellow in Amsterdam with The Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity watchdog group, said the court was wrong to describe the song as a legitimate threat to national security.

网络安全监督组织——公民实验室在阿姆斯特丹的研究员徐洛文表示，法院将这首歌描述为对国家安全的合法威胁是错误的。

“For speech to be censored or infringed on national security grounds, you have to be able to demonstrate intent and harm, and that the remedies you propose are the least restrictive,” said Mr. Tsui, the former head of free expression for Asia and the Pacific at Google. He added that he did not consider the evidence presented as legitimate national security threats.

“要以国家安全为由对言论进行审查或侵犯，你必须能够证明意图和伤害，而且你提出的解决方案应该是限制最少的，”曾在谷歌担任亚太地区言论自由问题负责人的徐洛文说。他还指出，他不认为提交的证据构成了合法的国家安全威胁。

After Google declined a public request by the government to remove the song in December 2022, Hong Kong’s security chief called the company’s decision “unthinkable.”

在谷歌拒绝了政府在2022年12月要求下架这首歌的公开请求后，香港保安局局长称该公司的决定“匪夷所思”。

Like most tech companies, Google has a policy of removing or restricting access to material that is deemed illegal by a court in certain countries or places.

像大多数科技公司一样，谷歌的政策是删除或限制访问被某些国家或地区法院视为非法的内容。

In recent years, requests to tech companies by the Hong Kong authorities to remove content have soared. But the internet in the city, in contrast to mainland China, has remained largely free of government control.

近年来，香港当局要求科技公司删除内容的要求大量增加。但与中国大陆相比，香港的互联网基本上不受政府控制。

Facebook and Twitter were blocked from mainland China in 2009. A year later, Google shut down its China services and rerouted users to its search engine in Hong Kong, then a bastion of political freedom on Chinese soil.

Facebook和Twitter在2009年被中国大陆屏蔽。一年后，谷歌关闭了在中国的服务，将用户自动转接到香港的搜索引擎，当时香港是中国土地上政治自由的堡垒。

The Asia Internet Coalition, an association representing companies including Google, X, Apple, and Meta on internet policy, said that it would assess how the ruling was carried out and its impact on businesses.

代表谷歌、X、苹果和Meta等公司的互联网政策协会亚洲互联网联盟表示，将评估该裁决的执行情况及其对企业的影响。

“We believe that a free and open internet is fundamental to the city’s ambitions to become an international technology and innovation hub,” Jeff Paine, the managing director of the association, said in a statement.

“我们相信，自由开放的互联网是香港成为国际科技和创新中心的基础，”该协会的常务董事杰夫·潘恩在声明中说。

George Chen, a co-chair of digital practice at the Asia Group, a consulting firm in Washington, said he hoped the government would narrowly define the boundaries of the ban. Mr. Chen is the former head of public policy for Greater China at Meta.

华盛顿咨询公司亚洲集团负责数字业务的联席主席陈澍表示，他希望政府能严格界定禁令的范围。陈澍曾任Meta大中华区公共政策主管。

“If the scope is too broad, the chilling effects will become more real, and that will hurt the reputation of Hong Kong as a regional business hub,” he said.

“如果范围太广，寒蝉效应将变得更加真实，这将损害香港作为地区商业中心的声誉，”他说。