Hongkongers are lashing out at an Italian restaurant group after it declared that it would bar customers who do not use the government’s controversial contact tracing app, LeaveHomeSafe.
Capo Group, which runs three restaurants in Central, Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun, said in a Facebook post earlier this month that it had “really had enough” of customers who logged their details instead of using the app, and left fake information such as writing “Mickey Mouse” as their name.
“We need a reliable way to register people visiting our outlets. The only reliable way is if we use the leave home safe app,” the group wrote, explaining that the phony details would complicate contact tracing efforts in the event of an outbreak.
Last week, it posted a more aggressive warning that it would refuse entry to those who do not use LeaveHomeSafe.
“NO PHONE? NO CHARGE? NO DATA? NO WIFI? PHONE ‘JUST’ BROKE? INTERESTING!!! NO COME IN!!!” The notice read.
Capo’s loud statement quickly went viral, with many netizens accusing the group of being pro-government and disregarding the privacy concerns of its potential customers.
The group’s main Facebook page, as well as pages for its outlets, have since been flooded with comments calling for a boycott of the restaurants and wishing that they close down.
“Thanks for giving me the hint that you are not stand with Hong Kong people [sic]. Good luck to your shop,” one Facebook user wrote.
Since restaurants in Hong Kong were allowed to re-open for evening dine-in services in February, customers have had to either scan the QR code at the outlets they visit using the government’s LeaveHomeSafe app, or write their name, number, date and time of entry on a slip of paper.
Read more: Fight breaks out at McDonald’s after customer refuses to download ‘LeaveHomeSafe’ app
In the city’s politicized climate, downloading the app has come to be understood as support for the government. Many Hongkongers opt to log their details instead, unwilling to use an app they view as a tool for surveillance disguised as a COVID-19 measure.
Restaurants across the city acknowledge that some customers who do not use LeaveHomeSafe are filling in fake information when asked to write their details.
“[The customers] just write whatever they want. There’s all sort of weird stuff, Japanese cartoon characters, or some just write crosses,” Simon Wong, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants & Related Trades Limited, told HK01.
Gordon Lam, convener of the Small and Medium Restaurant Federation, said “Xi Jinping, ‘777’ and ‘689’ come once a day,” referring to the popular nicknames for Chief Executive Carrie Lam and former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who received the respective number of votes from the pro-Beijing election committee that handed them their victories.
