In handing down the sentence yesterday, deputy judge Peter Hui Shiu-keung of the district court said that even if Ng did not post the messages, he cannot shirk responsibility as the owner and administrator of such a big group for allowing these messages that incite illegal behaviors to exist. Telegram channels enable users to broadcast messages to multiple users simultaneously. Like on social media, users need to subscribe to your channel to get access to your content published by one or more administrators. The public channel had more than 109,000 subscribers, Judge Hui said. Ng had the power to remove or amend the messages in the channel, but he “allowed them to exist.” Ng, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges, had been detained for more than 20 months. His channel was said to have contained around 120 messages and photos that incited others to vandalise pro-government shops and commit criminal damage targeting police stations. For crypto enthusiasts, there was the “gm” app, a self-described “meme app” which only allowed users to greet each other with “gm,” or “good morning,” a common acronym thrown around on Crypto Twitter and Discord. But the gm app was shut down back in September after a hacker reportedly gained access to user data.
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