On Aug. 30, Hong Kong’s Church of Christ in China (CCC) Tuen Mun Church hosted the third in a series of talks on the history of church-state relations in mainland China over the videoconferencing platform Google Meet. About 50 church members joined the call, which included a lecture by a seminary professor and a Q&A session. 

Early in the call, organizers received requests from users named “Chinese National Security Bureau Hong Kong Branch,” “Chinese National Security,” and “Shenzhengovernment.”

The unknown requests concerned the organizers: Two months earlier, Beijing had imposed a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong that effectively criminalizes dissent and deems any criticism of the Chinese Communist Party’s policies—including about religion—as potentially illegal acts. The moderator rejected the users and at the end of the talk, Pastor Chan Minyi told the audience about the suspicious requests and possible government surveillance. Suddenly Chan and other participants were repeatedly kicked out of the meeting, forcing it to end early.

Chan suspects Chinese government officials interfered with the talk but also believes trolls or Beijing supporters could have, he told Hong Kong’s Christian Times. He pointed out the username “Chinese National Security Bureau Hong Kong Branch” was different from the agency’s official name. 

But Chan isn’t afraid: The lecture was merely “telling the truth” about history and did not break any laws, he told Hong Kong Citizen News .

The church has reported the incident to Google. It remains unclear how the hacking occurred. Webinars on the previous two Sundays had proceeded uninterrupted. As a relatively new platform, Google Meet may be unstable, but it’s also possible hackers used participants’ personal email accounts to sign into the meeting. The church decided to use Google Meet instead of Zoom for a four-part series due to security concerns: In June, Zoom admitted to shutting down other politically sensitive meetings at the request of the Chinese government. 

Days after the hacking incident, the Tuen Mun District Christian Churches Union posted on Facebook an open call to prayer. The organization condemned the disturbance of normal church activity, as it violated freedom of religion under the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution. Urging other churches to come forward with any similar disruption, the group also asked Hong Kongers to pray for God’s protection and that the government would effectively safeguard residents’ religious freedom.          

A staffer of CCC Tuen Mun Church confirmed the last talk of the series took place as usual but declined to comment further.  

The Google Meet hacking took place as Christians face increasing pressure under the new national security law. In the past two months, Hong Kong has seen its freedoms disappear as the law has been used to ban protest slogans, target a pro-democracy newspaper, remove books from the library, rewrite textbooks, and arrest activists. The maximum penalty under the law is life imprisonment.