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. The channel also called on people to turn out for illegal assemblies and listed the things that participants should bring along with them, showing prior planning was in the works for riots. The messages also incited people to hurl toxic gas bombs at police and MTR stations, he added. Hui said the messages, which included urging the disruption of airport operations, were attempts to incite followers to make use of poisonous, corrosive or flammable substances to vandalize police vehicles, and also called on others to make weapons to harm police. Telegram is a leading cloud-based instant messages platform. It became popular in recent years for its privacy, speed, voice and video quality, and other unmatched features over its main competitor Whatsapp. 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.”
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