The two editors, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, could face a maximum jail term of two years. This is the first sedition conviction against any journalist or editor since Hong Kong's handover from Britain to China in 1997.
It is a case that critics, including the US government, say reflects deteriorating media freedoms under a years-long national security crackdown in the China-ruled city.
Stand News editor Patrick Lam (centre) during his arrest by police officers in Hong Kong in 2021. (AP PHOTO)
Stand News, once Hong Kong's leading online media with a mix of critical reportage and commentary, was raided by police in December 2021 and had its assets frozen, leading to its closure a few days later.
Chung, 54, Lam, 36, and the outlet's parent company Best Pencil (Hong Kong) Ltd were all charged with conspiracy to publish seditious publications in connection with 17 news articles and commentaries between July 2020 and December 2021.
Chung and Lam had pleaded not guilty, with only Chung present in court on Thursday for the verdict. Lam's absence wasn't explained.
"When speech is assessed as having seditious intent, the relevant actual circumstances must have been taken into consideration, being viewed as causing potential damage to national security, (and) must be stopped," wrote district Court Judge Kwok Wai-kin.
During the 57-day trial, government prosecutor Laura Ng said Stand News had acted as a political platform to promote "illegal" ideologies and incited readers' hatred against the Chinese and Hong Kong governments.
The articles deemed seditious by the court included commentaries written by exiled activists Nathan Law and Sunny Cheung, veteran journalist Allan Au, jailed former Apple Daily associate publisher and Chung's wife Chan Pui-man.
Several international media freedom advocacy groups criticised this court's ruling.
"This verdict is setting a very dangerous precedent that could be further used by Beijing to suppress any independent voices," said Aleksandra Bielakowska, the Asia-Pacific advocacy manager for Reporters without Borders (RSF).
"Dozens of media have been shut down, numerous journalists went (into) exile, and others who remained in Hong Kong face a new reality where crossing red lines could be considered as breaching the national security laws," she told Reuters.
During the trial, Chung, who chose to testify in court, was in the witness box for 36 days, defending media freedoms and saying Stand News had only "recorded the facts and reported the truth".
He said the site had simply sought to reflect a spectrum of voices including pro-democracy advocates.
Chung stressed they upheld the principle of publishing every article they received to "showcase the greatest extent of freedom of speech", as long as these articles did not incite violence, adversely affect the public and cause defamation.
Lam wrote in a mitigation letter that "the key to this case is press freedom and freedom of speech ... the only way for journalists to defend press freedom is to report".
