Hurtful Digital Communications In Hong Kong: Stakeholder Accounts

Hurtful digital communications (HDC) is an umbrella term referring to a wide variety of text and image-based practices online, such as cyberbullying or the non-consensual distribution of intimate images (NCDII). They can cause significant harm to victims and, as elsewhere, these practices are on the rise in Hong Kong. This paper represents the first stage of a project aimed at developing a coherent, broad-spectrum response to that rise. It discusses nine interviews with stakeholder groups or representatives in Hong Kong, revealing commonalities and themes in their experiences with clients who have been victims of HDC. While Hong Kong has recently adopted piecemeal reform of criminal laws targeting certain HDC practices such as ‘up-skirting’, NCDII, and doxing, these interviews suggest that these reforms alone are unlikely prove effective. Amongst other things, the interviews reveal a desire by victims not simply for punishment but resolution and restitution. Other jurisdictions have responded to these desires through the adoption both of expanded civil actions and broader regulatory regimes. This paper sets the groundwork for justifying similar reforms in Hong Kong. Keywords: Law, Technology, Cyberbullying, NCDII, Communications, Hong Kong, Privacy, Tort, Regulation