Hong Kong authorities recorded 40 online sexual grooming cases targeting minors in the first four months of this year, the city’s security chief has said, as the government mulls a legal revamp.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang said on Wednesday that police logged 100 such cases in 2025, while a total of 2,156 child sexual abuse cases were recorded over the past three years.

Since last year, the police force has begun tallying figures related to online child sexual grooming, the minister said in a written reply to enquiries by lawmaker Elizabeth Quat.

Online child sexual grooming refers to cases whereby adults befriend children through the internet, typically via social media, online games, or messaging applications, to sexually abuse them.

The government also aims to propose legislative amendments to the city’s sex offence laws this year, Tang said.

“The exercise aims to review and improve the laws on sexual offences in Hong Kong in a comprehensive manner, which includes enhancing the legal protection to children,” Tang said, without elaborating further.

The proposals will be based on two reports published by the Law Reform Commission in 2019 and 2022, which outlined a raft of recommendations to improve the city’s sexual offence laws, he said.

Authorities plan to consult lawmakers and the public on the proposals in the second half of this year and hope to complete the legislative amendments by the end of June next year, when the term of the current administration concludes, he added.

A new set of recommendations for minors regarding the proper use of electronic devices and social media is expected to be ready this year, Tang said.

The Advisory Group on Health Effects of Screen and Social Media Use for Children and Adolescents, established in October, is reviewing scientific evidence and overseas experience and engaging with experts on the matter.

The updated health recommendations are expected to be released this year, he added.

Tang vowed that Hong Kong police would continue to combat crimes relating to online child sexual abuse material through cooperation with other jurisdictions.

Last month, the force arrested nine men in a joint operation with law enforcement in six other jurisdictions targeting online child sexual abuse material.

At a press conference last month, police psychologist Michael Fung warned of the pervasiveness of online sexual grooming of minors, citing a survey conducted by the force and two universities in the city.

The survey said 15 per cent of respondents admitted to having consumed child sexual abuse material on the internet, Fung said, but added the figure represented only “the tip of the iceberg.”

Weeks before Aaron Spencer's murder trial, the charge was dismissed after discovering that law enforcement had lost video evidence of the incident

© <p>Michael White - Arkansas Liberty/Facebook</p>

A Hong Kong basketball coach has been released on bail after he was arrested for allegedly slapping a student on a school court, an incident captured in a viral online video.

Yung Kam-wah was released early Tuesday morning, TVB reported.

The 54-year-old was arrested on Monday on suspicion of common assault after an online video showed a basketball coach forcing a student to slap himself several times.

The incident allegedly happened at Hon Wah College, a secondary school in Siu Sai Wan, independent local media Create City Stories reported last week.

Hon Wah College issued a statement last Tuesday, saying that the incident took place at the school during the 2023-24 academic year, Cable TV reported.

The school added that it had contacted the student to provide support and had suspended Yung from coaching duties.

On the same day, Yung issued an apology on Facebook.

“I want to express my deepest apologies to the student in the video. No matter what rules were broken, what mistakes were made, or what the circumstances were, I should never have punished a student this way,” Yung wrote in a Chinese-language statement.

“I realise that this caused him distress and hurt him, and I sincerely apologise.”

Local media also reported that Hon Wah College students said Yung had been abusive toward pupils for a long time.

“Our generation needs education of love. Under harsh education, students will just want to give up. Our school basketball team used to do well. However, I saw many friends, who were members of the basketball team, quit the team over the past few years because they could not stand the harsh education there,” a student told reporters in Cantonese.

Yung, a former player for the Hong Kong men’s national basketball team, currently serves as the vice chairman of the Hong Kong Basketball Association and works as a sports commentator.