TVB worker arrested over rogue news alerts

Suspect detained in Western after 23 unauthorised push notifications sent out

Police arrested a 27-year-old TVB employee just hours after 23 unauthorised push notifications were sent out via the broadcaster’s news app earlier this week, it was revealed yesterday.

The male suspect was detained on suspicion of accessing a computer with dishonest intent – an offence punishable by up to five years in jail, according to the force.

Without revealing the name of the organisation, police yesterday said the man was picked up in Western district on Tuesday night – hours after the company filed a report with the force.

The suspect works for TVB, the Post has learned.

The man has been released on bail pending further investigation. The force said he was required to report back to police in mid-May. TVB said yesterday that it had no comment at this stage.

Officers from the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau are investigating the case.

TVB, the city’s largest free-toair broadcaster, on Tuesday said the 23 alerts were dispatched to news app users over a 21-minute period, with the first sent out at midnight on Monday.

“Patriots rule Hong Kong”, “Lee Ka Chiu meets the press”, “hihi”, “test” and “yooooooo” were the contents of some of the notifications, while others were written in simplified Chinese.

“TVB has carried out multifaceted investigations and has immediately strengthened system monitoring to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents,” the company said.

Officers from the force’s cybersecurity and technology crime bureau visited the company’s offices in Tseung Kwan O’s TVB City to gather evidence on Tuesday afternoon.

Last July, a Form Six pupil was arrested for allegedly posting online messages to get people to boycott more than 100 businesses that advertised with TVB.

The 18-year-old was accused of posting the messages from May 2020 in a Facebook group and encouraging others to blacklist advertisers in an attempt to cause reputational damage and financial losses to the broadcaster.

Police said the teenager had allegedly called for internet users to post “angry face” emojis on the social media platform.

The broadcaster was a frequent target of anti-government demonstrators during the city’s social unrest in 2019, with radical protesters accusing TVB of having a pro-police bias.