Hong Kong's press freedom ranking has plummeted since Beijing cracked down on dissent after huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.

The Hong Kong tax authorities alleged that a group of online outlets, reporters and some of their family members had failed to report their income from 2017 to 2019 in full.

Backdated demands have been issued as a result, according to the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA).

The association told reporters it believed the audits "were not based on sufficient evidence or reasonable grounds."

The impacted media outlets listed by the HKJA include Hong Kong Free Press, Inmedia and The Witness, a news site focused on covering court cases, as well as two others.

HKJA said the tax department had claimed back money for "bizarre" reasons, including calculating non-existent income from before one of the outlets was founded.

Selina Cheng, the HKJA's chair and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, said the association, herself and her parents were also impacted.

Hong Kong's Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said it followed the legal process and that its actions were not aimed at specific industries, according to local media.

IRD added that it would not comment on "individual cases".

Hong Kong journalists rated the city's press freedom lower than ever in an annual survey last year, citing fears around sweeping national security laws.

More than 90 percent of journalists surveyed said the city's press freedom was "significantly" impacted by a domestic security law enacted in March 2024 that punishes crimes like espionage and foreign interference.

Colloquially known as Article 23, it was the second such law enacted for the financial hub, following one imposed by Beijing in 2020 after the pro-democracy protests.

China's foreign ministry said that Hong Kong's security laws "target a very small number of individuals who severely endanger national security, not law-abiding media reporters".