Google reminds Chinese government ‘how our platforms work’ after row over Hong Kong search results

‘We do not manually manipulate organic web listings to determine the ranking of a specific page’

Google on Thursday said it did not manipulate the search results as claimed by the Hong Kong administration after the tech giant refused to remove a popular protest song against mainland China.

The row began after it emerged that the pro-democracy song "Glory to Hong Kong" is displayed at the top of the page instead of the city's official "March of the Volunteers".

Last month the protest song, which gained popularity during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, was accidentally played for Hong Kong athletes at two international sports events, drawing ire from city officials. The song was banned after Beijing imposed the draconian national security law and authorities began a crackdown on those using it.

The livid Chinese leadership had asked Google to remove the song from its platform - a request that was rejected by the search engine.

"Google handles billions of search queries every day, so we build ranking systems to automatically surface relevant, high quality, and helpful information," the company told AFP in a statement.

"We do not manually manipulate organic web listings to determine the ranking of a specific page."

It added that the company was in contact with the authorities in Hong Kong to explain "how our platforms and removal policies work".

"We do not remove web results except for specific reasons outlined in our global policy documentation."

Earlier this week the city’s security chief Chris Tang accused Google of "double standards" after it refused to make amendments. “Google claimed it could not accede to our request because [the search results are determined by] algorithm and it cannot do anything with it,” Mr Tang said.

City leader John Lee on Tuesday pushed back against the Alphabet Inc-owned platform, claiming it has “a moral obligation” to prominently feature the correct national anthem.

“There are ways to do it, it’s a matter of whether a company acts responsibly and respect the importance of (a) national anthem in the global context,” Mr Lee said in a briefing.

He said he would continue to press Google to make that change.

Mr Lee's remarks were backed by the Chinese foreign ministry, which said that internet companies "have a duty to deliver correct information to the public".

Chinese state media Global Times strongly criticised the search engine's stance by calling it "arrogance against China" and its willingness to "serve as a political tool".

It said to “recognize that 'Hong Kong's national anthem' is the 'March of the Volunteers' is to acknowledge that China has legitimate sovereignty over Hong Kong, which is undoubtedly in line with” the consensus of the international community under the “One China” policy.

"Therefore, Google has an obligation to provide users with true and accurate information."