Sources: Alibaba's e-commerce subsidiary Ant Group is planning an IPO in Hong Kong as soon as this year, targeting a $200B+ valuation
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, plans a Hong Kong float as soon as this year and targets a valuation …
Exclusive: Telegram to temporarily refuse data requests from Hong Kong courts amid security law ‘terrorism’ row https://hongkongfp.com/... @telegram #Hongkong #china https://twitter.com/...
Ant denies the story but speculation rife of a #HongKong IPO for the fintech arm of @AlibabaGroup. MT @Reuters @antgroup plans a Hong Kong float as soon as this year and targets a valuation of more than $200bln, sources say. $BABA https://www.reuters.com/...
Amazon and Google, which both have big data centers in Hong Kong face a trickier call. There may be ways to put encryption keys offshore, but that slows down connections. Facebook could also geo-block certain terms within HK, effectively fencing it off from the world.
There do seem to be some workarounds though. If the tech isn't available to take down posts or access data, then that's a defense. Edmon Chung at the Internet Society of Hong Kong said companies could design their tech to help them use that provision in the law.
Much rests on how aggressive Hong Kong/China gets in enforcing the law and whether it goes after Google, Facebook etc. The potential is there for a Google employee to be arrested because the company will not provide data on an overseas user HK views as a national security threat.
As details of new internet controls for Hong Kong emerge, the city is becoming a front line for a global fight over digital rights and internet freedoms. For now American tech cos have circled the wagons, but the new law could imprison tech employees. https://www.nytimes.com/...