South Korean Internet giant Naver Corp yesterday said that it is moving its backup servers storing its users’ personal data from Hong Kong to Singapore, after Beijing imposed national security legislation on the territory.
“We are currently shifting our backup data servers in Hong Kong to Singapore to better manage and protect our user data,” Naver said in a statement, adding that the company had deleted all data stored in Hong Kong earlier this month.
The South Korean company said that its information technology infrastructure subsidiary, Naver Business Platform, managed the data stored in Hong Kong and that it had not received any requests to hand over data.
Naver did not mention the new legislation as a reason for its decision to relocate its backup servers.
US technology giants, including Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter Inc, earlier this month suspended processing government requests for user data in Hong Kong following the imposition of the legislation.
The legislation punishes the crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, sees mainland security agencies operating in Hong Kong for the first time and allows extradition to the mainland for trial.
The legislation was adopted in response to sometimes-violent pro-democracy protests last year triggered by fears that Beijing was stifling the territory’s freedoms, guaranteed by the “one country, two systems” formula agreed when it returned to Chinese rule.
Beijing denies that accusation and says the legislation is needed to ensure stability and preserve prosperity.
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