Apple Music and iTunes Take Down Pro-Democratic Song After Hong Kong DOJ Applied for an Injunction to Ban the Song

Apple CEO Tim Cook attends the Economic Summit held for the China Development Forum in Beijing, China, on March 23, 2019. (Ng Han Guan/AFP/Getty Images)

On June 5, The Department of Justice (DOJ) in Hong Kong applied for an injunction prohibiting the dissemination of a pro-democratic song, “Glory to Hong Kong.” On June 12, the court requested clarification on the identity of the defendants and adjourned the hearing until July 21. However, before the court issues the order, Apple’s streaming platforms, iTunes and Apple Music, have already taken down multiple versions of the song.

After the DOJ filed the court injunction on June 5, “Glory to Hong Kong” occupied eight spots on the iTunes’ popular music chart two days later, and by the early hours of June 8, different versions of the song had swept the entire iTunes’ top ten charts.

On June 14, multiple versions of the song were found to be taken down already, and only a Taiwanese version sung by the band “Chairman” remained available on Apple Music and iTunes. Users who have already purchased and downloaded “Glory to Hong Kong” can still listen to it.

Another music platform, Spotify, also took down several versions of “Glory to Hong Kong” in the afternoon on June 14, while KKBOX (Taiwan music platform) still offers different versions of the song.

In the early hours of June 15, the composer and original composing team of “Glory to Hong Kong,” DGXMUSIC, posted on their Facebook page that they were “dealing with some technical issues unrelated to the streaming platform, sorry for the temporary impact. Thank you to all the audience.”

“Glory to Hong Kong”—a widely spreading song from the 2019 anti-extradition bill movement in Hong Kong. The song appears as the top response to Google searches for Hong Kong’s national anthem, on top of China’s national anthem. It has been mistakenly played as such in many international competitions.

In December 2022, the Hong Kong government requested Google to replace the song’s organic search ranking with China’s national anthem, but Google refused.

On June 5, 2023, the government filed a writ to ban the song on the grounds of containing “a seditious intention,” being “mistaken as the national anthem,” and “intent to insult the national anthem.”