HONG KONG, May 24 (Reuters) - A Hong Kong protest anthem

was removed by a UK digital music distributor from streaming

platforms on Friday following a court injunction in the Chinese

territory, the music creators said, as judges warned that

dissidents could use the song against the state.

DGX Music, a group of mostly anonymous musicians, said on

Friday that EmuBands notified it that "Glory to Hong Kong" would

be taken down from all platforms, including iTunes and Apple

Music, due to the injunction.

"We have expressed our opposition to EmuBands, pointing

out that the injunction does not have extraterritorial

jurisdiction," DGX Music said on Instagram. "More importantly,

the song itself is not banned by the injunction."

DGX Music hopes to have the song back in distribution as

soon as possible, it added.

EmuBands, based in Glasgow, Scotland, did not immediately

respond to a request for comment.

"Glory to Hong Kong" was written in 2019 during widespread

pro-democracy protests, becoming an unofficial alternative

anthem to China's "March of the Volunteers." Hong Kong has no

official anthem.

Hong Kong's Court of Appeal on May 8 granted an application

by the government to outlaw the song, overturning a lower court

judgment that had rejected such a ban because of its possible

"chilling effects" on free speech.

YouTube, part of Mountain View-based Alphabet in California,

has geoblocked banned videos for viewers in Hong Kong since

mid-May.

The government will continue to monitor the situation for

any non-compliance with the court order, Hong Kong's Chief

Executive John Lee said on Tuesday. "If we notice such

instances, then we will notify the platform of the contents of

the court order."

The U.S. government has said the ban will further undermine

Hong Kong's international reputation as a financial hub. A

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has said that stopping the

song's spread was necessary for Hong Kong to safeguard national

security.

The injunction has no extraterritorial effect, said Eric

Lai, a fellow with the Center for Asian Law at Georgetown

University, in an interview. "Indeed the court ruling didn't

impose a blanket ban on the song. It allows exemptions to

journalistic and academic activities."

"A blanket ban or removal cannot help enforce the exemptions

of the ruling," Lai added.

Lokman Tsui, a fellow at the Citizen Lab, University of

Toronto, said the Hong Kong government has pressured companies

to censor a song around the world, "just because they feel it's

embarrassing them."