More than 10,000 subscribers have joined a Telegram messaging group that specializes in publishing photos of purported pro-democracy protesters’ faces in an apparent bid to expose their identities to the Chinese central government.
The administrator of the group — which is called “Parents Looking for Their Children,” and has been active since early July — encourages subscribers to submit photos of protesters to a Chinese government website that allows citizens to provide tips to the Ministry of State Security, claiming that mainland authorities can extract protesters’ identities from photos using facial recognition software and “create trouble for” them should they travel to the mainland.
Most recently, the group has targeted employees of Cathay Pacific, with multiple photos of uniformed Cathay employees already circulating there.
“Look at this violent air stewardess. I’ve reported her,” one comment on the group reads.
“I hope these flight attendants fail spectacularly and never serve in the aviation industry or go to mainland China again,” reads another.
The targeting comes at a fraught time for the Hong Kong airline. Beijing’s aviation regulator recently forbade Cathay staff who had participated in protests from flying through mainland airspace, and the airline issued a missive to staff informing them that they could be fired for taking part in “illegal” demonstrations.
The airline recently acknowledged that it had fired two pilots and two ground staffers, and in a surprising development on Friday, the airline’s CEO and another senior executive announced their resignation.
Users on “Parents Looking for Their Children” also circulate more anodyne pro-establishment sentiments, some in the form of hashtags like “#YouDontRepresentMe.” One comment today, for instance, sought to flip the prevailing narrative that yesterday’s peaceful protest showed continued widespread support for the pro-democracy movement, claiming it instead “proved the police’s innocence against allegations of brutality.”
“If the protesters don’t instigate violence, then the police won’t have use force to uphold the law. Thank you so much.”
The assault on anonymity has a special resonance in the Hong Kong context. Ever since the early days of the protest movement — which was sparked by a controversial bill, but has since expanded to call for broader reforms — protesters have taken pains to conceal their identities. Indeed, part of the appeal of Telegram among protesters was its anonymity.
Use of the app has boomed since major protests kicked off in June, with much of its popularity predicated on the promise that it is, as Telegram’s website puts it, “more secure than mass market messengers like WhatsApp and Line.”
Meanwhile, paranoia among protesters of spies in their midst is running high, especially after police for the first time used undercover officers disguised as protesters to make arrests on Aug. 11. Days later, protesters at Hong Kong International Airport bound and beat two men suspected of being “spies.”
While Telegram has mostly been associated with the protester camp, with activists using it to circulate both action plans and rumors alike, it also appears to have taken off among pro-establishmentarians like the users of “Parents Looking for Their Children.” The group’s name appears to be a play on another, much larger pro-democracy group called “Father Looking for His Son,” which is dedicated to similarly identifying and releasing the personal information of frontline riot cops, who have come under fire for refusing to display their IDs during operations.
As with that group, users of “Parents Looking for Their Children” at times attempt to crowdsource efforts to identify protesters.
In one video shared on the group, the frame zooms in on a female protester holding a laser pointer during a march. Although she is wearing a face mask, the footage is sharp enough to clearly discern the look of her eyes and facial structure.
“Wanted! Rioters who use laser guns to assault the police,” the comment accompanying the video reads.
