Hong Kong’s pro-democracy businesses tread carefully as ‘yellow economy’ reels from reported arrests

Users exiting the sunshine-yellow mobile app that let them know about nearby businesses sympathetic to Hong Kong’s democracy movement on Thursday were bid farewell with a “see you again tomorrow.” But tomorrow never came for the online platform.

Citing sources, local media reported that five men apprehended by national security police on Wednesday and Thursday had worked for the now-offline app.

Mee – the interface of which apparently parodied the rewards’ system of a major Hong Kong retail chain with stakes in businesses targeted by protesters in 2019 – was a more developed version of a map that located pro-democracy businesses during the unrest.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.” 

Launched in 2020, the app rewarded users who supported “yellow businesses” – restaurants, shops and service providers that promoted democracy in Hong Kong – and allowed users to leave reviews. It also provided discounts and information about the stores.

It’s full name, 懲罰Mee, translates to “Punish Mee,” with punish a tongue-in-cheek reference to consuming “yellow” goods.

“It was an ordinary marketing app to me, just like Openrice,” one of the retail stores that cooperated with “Mee” told HKFP, comparing it to a popular online restaurant guide.

On Wednesday, four men were arrested by national security police officers over alleged conspiracy to collude with a foreign country and conspiracy to doing acts with “seditious intent”. A fifth man linked to the case was arrested the following day.

None of them have been officially named. However, citing sources, local media reported that all five were former members of defunct political party Demosisto, and also the team behind the Mee app.

State-controlled newspapers, also citing sources, said the five were accused of financially supporting Demosisto’s former chairperson Nathan Law – one of eight self-exiled figures with a HK$1 million bounty on his head – using profits from Mee.

An office in Kwai Chung was raided on Wednesday evening: yellow banners and promotional materials printed with the app’s logo were taken away by police.

By Friday, Mee had stopped operating. Its social media accounts disappeared along with all of the content made by the team.

The Mee raid came as a shock for many, especially those yellow businesses that paid to be featured on the platform, as speculation emerged online over whether the contact list of companies that collaborated with Mee would be confiscated, too.

In June 2020, Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – bypassing the local legislature – following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, which were broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure.

The move gave police sweeping new powers, alarming democrats, civil society groups and trade partners, as such laws have been used broadly to silence and punish dissidents in China. However, the authorities say it has restored stability and peace to the city.

Risk assessment

“We’d like to stay low-profile now,” an owner of a pro-democracy business who asked to be known by the pseudonym Celine, told HKFP on Thursday. She said she preferred not to cause any trouble under the current political climate.

Other yellow business owners that spoke to HKFP shared Celine’s concerns. A retail store owner who gave his name as Bill, said he removed the Mee sticker – used to indicate collaboration with the app – from his shop almost immediately after learning about the arrests.

When asked why, Bill paused. “You can say it’s a sort of self-censorship, after all, the [red line] is unclear,” he said, after several moments.

Celine, on the other hand, said she was reluctant to take the Mee sticker off her storefront. “I cannot convince myself to do it… unless it is proven to cause me immediate danger,” Celine said.

She said even thought the collaboration with Mee had not brought her any noticeable profit – “mostly due to our own market price,” Celine added – she was impressed by work accomplished by the Mee team over the past three years.

The app held an annual Punish Festival, as well as various satirical campaigns mimicking the Beijing-overhauled chief executive and district councillor elections.

“I always considered Mee as a very mild and lawful platform,” Celine said.

Chu Kong-wai, owner of pro-democracy online shopping platform As One, said the Mee app had helped his business as they targeted the same audience, adding that Mee had promoted As One, which had sold 200 rice dumplings on the platform.

However, this collaboration resulted in Chu being named in state-controlled newspaper Wen Wei Po on Friday, along with several other companies once recommended by Mee. They were described by the newspaper as supporting “black riots” and “mutual destruction.”

When Covid-19 prevention measures were still in force, Celine’s restaurant was known not only for its political stance, but also for being punished for serving customers who had not used the city’s contact tracing app during what she described as “unusually frequent” checks.

Before anti-epidemic measures were lifted last December, the restaurant was temporarily banned from operating several times. Local media and people online questioned whether there was a “double standard” regarding businesses perceived to have a pro-democracy stance.

“Of course we have worries… we have been quiet for a long time already, ” Celine said.

However, Celine said that visits by government departments had continued, more frequent if anything. “I’d say we have seen all the departments,” Celine said. “Their complaints ranged from accusing us of blocking the street with a chair, to warning us over our ‘slippery’ floor.”

She told HKFP that she was worried about the possible repercussions on her business if she talked about the recent arrests publicly.

“This is the first time I have felt the fire spreading so close to us… but we were running a proper business, following every step required by the law,” Celine said.

A shop-owner who gave her name as Mia told HKFP that six business bank accounts opened by her and her husband had been terminated after her store was featured in the media for supporting a defunct pro-democracy news outlet. She believed the reason behind their closure was probably political, although she could not prove it.

Like Celine, she said her business had been subject to frequent checks by government departments. However, since remaining quiet on social media she said the inspections had stopped.

The future of the yellow economy

The “yellow economic circle,” a bottom-up campaign of consumer activism, became a phenomenon during the 2019 protests, with several businesses donating profits to funds that supported protesters.

However, it has been framed as a kind of “soft resistance” by state-controlled newspapers.

Over the years, the yellow economy has paled. Many small restaurants and retail stores have quietly removed protest-related decorations, redacted slogans once written on their walls, or taken down their Lennon walls.

Chu said his online shopping platform – the profits of which are used to support jailed protesters – struggled to meet payroll on time every month, adding that June’s revenue was around HK$100,000 less than that of May.

“Every business is struggling to break even under this economic climate, how is anyone possibly supposed to be able to support people overseas?” Chu asked.

He said he did not understand the logic behind accusations of soft resistance, as competition between businesses was supposed to bring vitality to the city.

“If you stop people from purchasing what they actually want, they’ll just stop buying. Is that what the government wants?” Chu asked, adding that the business sector should not be intervened with to this degree by authorities.

Bill sighed as he told HKFP the future of the yellow economy seemed bleak. “I feel powerless, now that spending hard earned money in certain businesses might not be allowed.”

Celine said she did not expect any pro-democracy businesses to launch any major campaigns, at least for a while.

When asked whether he had a back-up plan to continue supporting those in jail on protest-related charges, Chu smiled and said: “Honestly, I cannot think that far into the future, I cannot even anticipate what will happen tomorrow.”

However, the former district councillor said he was confident that Hongkongers would still manage to locate and support yellow businesses even without the Mee app or other indicators of stores and restaurants’ political leanings.

“The point is to support small business, it’s easy to recognise them, isn’t it? We can still pass on information about high-quality yellow restaurants by word of mouth, or in our neighbourhood, or among friends and colleagues,” Chu said.

Unwilling to conclude that it was the end of the yellow economy, Chu said he was still optimistic. “Hongkongers are smart, we’ll find a workaround.”

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