Hong Kong SIM Card Rule Tightened as China Expands Control Over Cross-Border Internet Access

A new China Mobile Hong Kong policy requires prepaid SIMs to be activated outside China, narrowing a workaround some users used to access the global internet.

A China Mobile advertising board on the side of a building in Hong Kong on March 14, 2010. Daniel Sorabji/AFP via Getty Images

A new restriction on Hong Kong prepaid mobile SIM cards is tightening access to a channel some Chinese users have long used to reach overseas internet services, highlighting the expanding scope of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) censorship regime.

According to a notice on China Mobile Hong Kong’s website, effective June 17, all prepaid SIM cards can no longer be activated in mainland China.