Home World Hong Kong police accuse mobile game of promoting 'armed revolution'

Hong Kong police accuse mobile game of promoting ‘armed revolution’

A phone displaying the App Store page page for the mobile game Reversed Front: Bonfire.

A phone displaying the App Store page for the mobile game Reversed Front: Bonfire. Ryland Barton/NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Ryland Barton/NPR

HONG KONG — Hong Kong police on Tuesday warned people against downloading and using a gaming app that it says advocates “armed revolution” and the overthrow of the “fundamental system” of Mainland China.

Anyone who downloads or uses the app, or makes in-app purchases in it, would be violating the city’s controversial national security law, the police said in a statement on Tuesday.

The crackdown on the gaming app and its users is just the latest in what democracy and human rights advocates say is an erosion of Hong Kong’s civil rights and freedoms since Beijing implemented a sweeping national security law on the city in 2020. Hong Kong beefed up the law last year, passing legislation that toughened punishment for dissent, including life in prison for acts considered insurrectionist.

Sponsor Message

Hong Kong police say the mobile game Reversed Front: Bonfire intentionally provokes hatred towards central authorities and the Hong Kong government. Hong Kong residents or companies who knowingly publish the gaming app, share it or recommend it to others may be seen as inciting secession and subversion, authorities warned.

The game, published by ESC Taiwan, allows players to “pledge allegiance to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Tibet, Kazakhs, Uyghur, Manchuria or the Rebel Alliance of Cathaysian and Southeast Asia to overthrow the Communist regime,” according to the game’s website. Or players can “choose to lead the Communists to defeat all enemies, and resume the century-long march of the Communist revolution.”

The game’s website calls it a work of nonfiction. “Any similarity to actual agencies, policies or ethnic groups of the [People’s Republic of China] in this game is INTENTIONAL,” the website states.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But on the game’s Instagram page, the company posted a screenshot of a local TV news report about the game being labeled a national security violation, and thanked the broadcaster for introducing the game to all of Hong Kong.

The tongue-in-cheek post may be a reference to the fact that the game does not appear to be very popular.

The number of downloads is not public, but as of Wednesday the game has fewer than 360 ratings on the Apple and Google app stores combined. Popular mobile game apps, such as Call of Duty or Block Blast, have millions of ratings.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Must Read

Rescuers search for survivors after ferry sinking near Bali, Indonesia

In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) rescuers search for victims after a ferry enroute for the resort island of Bali sank off Ketapang, East Java, Indonesia on Thursday. BASARNAS/AP/BASARNAS via AP hide caption toggle caption BASARNAS/AP/BASARNAS via AP JAKARTA, Indonesia — Rescuers were searching Thursday for 32 people

Haiti’s gangs have ‘near-total control’ of the capital, U.N. says

Security guards stand watch as Haiti's Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, center, talks with the Mexico's Charge d'Affaires Jesus Cisneros after attending an event marking one year since the start of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Thursday. Odelyn Joseph/AP hide caption toggle caption Odelyn Joseph/AP UNITED NATIONS — Haiti's gangs have

Saving history one story at a time

Enlarge this image The memorial of the former Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, 11 April 2015. On 11 April 1945, US troops arrived at the camp which held 21,000 prisoners. Sebastian Kahnert/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Sebastian Kahnert/Getty Images The memorial of the former Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, 11 April 2015.

A Ukrainian actress saw herself in a White House video — and created one in response

Ukrainian actress Antonina Khyzhniak made a video in response to seeing stock footage of herself used in a White House video. She acts out an imaginary negotiation between herself and President Trump. Screenshot by NPR hide caption toggle caption Screenshot by NPR KYIV, Ukraine — A social media video promoting President Trump's tax bill is

A Dangerous Quest for Food in Gaza

Enlarge this image Palestinians outside a food distribution site run by an Israeli and U.S. backed group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, on June 24. Hundreds of Palestinians seeking food at the group's sites have been killed by Israeli military fire, according to health officials and international medical teams in Gaza. Anas Baba/NPR hide caption toggle