'My Face Is Everywhere and I Never Agreed to It': Hong Kongers Speak Out on Duplicate Image Use

A retired teacher from Kowloon City discovered last spring that a portrait taken at a family event in Lok Fu Plaza had been lifted, duplicated and repurposed across at least four separate commercial websites selling dietary supplements. She had never signed a release form. Nobody had asked her. The photograph had simply been taken from a friend's social media post and recycled for profit.

Her experience is not isolated. Across Hong Kong, a quiet but widening grievance is taking shape around the unauthorised duplication and redistribution of personal images — a problem sharpened by the proliferation of AI-assisted image tools, aggressive digital marketing, and a regulatory environment that critics say has not kept pace with the technology reshaping everyday life.

A Problem With Deep Local Roots

The issue carries particular weight in Hong Kong's densely photographed urban spaces. Street markets in Sham Shui Po, the neon-lit lanes of Temple Street, and the weekend crowds along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront promenade generate enormous volumes of incidental photography — images posted publicly that then circulate far beyond their original context. Community advocates at the Digital Rights group Keyboard Frontline, which has documented cases of image misuse in Hong Kong since the early 2010s, say complaints related to duplicated photographs have become a consistent thread in the casework they handle from residents in Yau Tsim Mong and Kwun Tong districts.

For small vendors and freelance workers, the stakes are commercial as well as personal. A seamstress operating from a unit off Apliu Street in Sham Shui Po described finding photographs of her handmade garments — taken by a customer and posted on Instagram — reposted by at least two mainland-registered resellers presenting the work as their own. She said she had no practical route to pursue removal of the images because the accounts were registered outside Hong Kong's jurisdiction.

A secondary school student in Wan Chai said she found a cropped photograph of herself, originally posted on a classmate's account after a school sports day at Happy Valley Recreation Ground, being used as a profile image on multiple platforms she had never visited. She was 15 at the time the original image was taken.

What the Law Currently Offers — and Where It Falls Short

Hong Kong's Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, administered by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD), covers certain categories of personal image data, but enforcement against offshore operators remains structurally difficult. The PCPD launched an updated set of recommended practices for data users handling images in 2021, following a broader review of the Ordinance, yet advocacy groups argue the guidance lacks binding teeth when images cross into jurisdictions outside Hong Kong.

According to the PCPD's annual report for 2024, the office received more than 2,400 complaints during that calendar year related to the handling of personal data, with image-related cases forming a growing subcategory — though the office does not publish a precise breakdown by image type.

The cost of pursuing civil redress through Hong Kong's court system also deters many affected residents. Filing a case in the District Court typically requires legal representation, with solicitor retainer fees for civil matters routinely starting above HK$15,000 before any hearing takes place. For the seamstress in Sham Shui Po or the retired teacher in Kowloon City, that threshold effectively closes the door.

Community legal clinics, including those run by the Hong Kong Bar Association's Free Legal Service Scheme at locations including Queensway Government Offices in Admiralty, offer initial consultations — but waiting times through mid-2026 have stretched to several weeks for new applicants.

Anyone who believes their image has been duplicated without consent is advised to document evidence with dated screenshots before requesting removal, file a formal complaint with the PCPD online portal, and contact the platform's local representative if one exists in Hong Kong. The PCPD's hotline operates Monday to Friday during standard government office hours. For cross-border cases, the office has a referral mechanism with counterpart data authorities in Guangdong province under the Greater Bay Area cooperation framework — a channel that advocates say remains underused but is the most practical option currently available.