On Nov 2, 2025, French journalist Antoine Vedeilhe’ was detained for three hours upon arriving at the Hong Kong International Airport airport from France, during which he was questioned and subjected to a full-body search before being deported from the territory. In the journalist’s view, his detention was a reprisal for his work on a documentary examining Beijing's grip on Hong Kong. It is one of many accounts of visas being weaponized in Hong Kong, which remain underreported due to pressure and sophisticated surveillance by the Chinese regime. The documentary will be released by France Télévision in May 2026.

Just a day after the incident at the airport, a cameraman working on the same documentary with Vedeilhe who managed to enter the city — and whose name is withheld for security purposes — was followed by unidentified individuals that he suspects were Hong Kong’s national security police. In the following days, there was a hacking attempt on Vedeilhe’s private email account and his sources in the documentary were harassed by the national security police.

Vedeilhe was given no official explanation or documents concerning his expulsion. The day after Antoine Vedeilhe’s deportation, France Télévisions received an email from an unknown individual threatening the journalist and news outlet, claiming that his work “comes into conflict with the National Security Law in Hong Kong” and that “such editorial choices could be considered ‘incitement to hatred,’” potentially exposing both him and his channel to risk, and claimed that media’s correspondents, freelancers and partners in China and Hong Kong could also be required to cooperate with investigations, provide data, or even face criminal liability.” The documentary had been announced before Antoine’s arrival in Hong Kong in France Télévision’s programming schedule.

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