Censorship in Hong Kong

Censorship in Hong Kong is the suppression of speech or other public communication, which is a practice that can infringe upon freedom of speech. By law, censorship is usually practised against the distribution of certain materials, particularly child pornography, obscene images, sedition, separatism, state secrets, and reports on court cases which may lead to unfair trial.

At the time of the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong boasted one of the highest degrees of press freedom in Asia. However, press censorship had a long history in the British colony and was only abolished in 1987 with the handover in sight. Since the handover to China, Hong Kong has been granted relative legal, economic, and political autonomy under the one country, two systems policy. Hong Kong's freedom of speech, of the press, and of publication are protected under Article 27 of the Hong Kong Basic Law and Article 16 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.

Observers have noted a trend of decreasing press freedom in the territory, including physical attacks on journalists, acts targeted at liberal media and against their owners, withdrawal of advertising revenues, and appointment of compliant pro-Beijing chief editors. The decline in Hong Kong's ranking on the Press Freedom Index published annually by Reporters Without Borders has been vertiginous. It stood at 148th in 2022, a drop of 68 places from the year prior, having ranked 71st in 2015. As of 2025, Hong Kong ranked 140th on the index.

In 2020, under the Hong Kong national security law enacted by Beijing's National People's Congress, it was made illegal to incite hatred against the government of China or Hong Kong. Additionally, the Commissioner of Police was granted the authority to control online content that is deemed a threat to national security and to compel the cooperation of internet service providers in the investigation of any such content.