LinkedIn shuts up shop in China
Company cites 'significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements' as reason for pulling out
LinkedIn, the last remaining US social media site permitted to operate in China is closing down, citing the "challenging operating environment" in the country.
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn follows Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others in being banned or severely restricted in China. Microsoft has also faced criticism at home from US politicians who accuse it of appeasing China by agreeing to censor certain groups and individuals, including journalists and activists.
LinkedIn will be replaced by InJobs will be a stripped down, jobs-only site without the social feeds or the ability to create and share articles.
LinkedIn claims it has more than 54 million users in China, having launched in the country in 2014.
Since then it has been walking a tightrope to adhere to the demands of an increasingly authoritarian Chinese government on one hand, while fending off criticism from US lawmakers on the other.
"While we've found success in helping Chinese members find jobs and economic opportunity, we have not found that same level of success in the more social aspects of sharing and staying informed," wrote senior vice president Mohak Shroff in a blog post.
"We're also facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China."
A series of events preceded LinkedIn's retreat from China. In March, LinkedIn started restricting new signups to the site, having fallen foul of the authorities for failing to censor sensitive content previously. In September, LinkedIn prevented Chinese users from reading materials published by several US journalists, academics and activists critical of Beijing.
The US company, like others before, has decided to cut its losses. It seems doubtful that InJobs will be able to compete with local competition, but Microsoft will want to retain a foothold within the enormous Chinese market. Bing remains the only major foreign-owned search engine in China, where it survives by censoring its results, blocking searches for Tiananmen Square on the anniversary of the crackdown, for example.
In 2010 Google withdrew publicly from China, saying it was unwilling to censor search results as the government demanded. However, it emerged later that it was working on a censored search engine Project Dragonfly, which it was forced to shelve after protests by employees.
While many western tech firms continue to operate in Hong Kong, Facebook, Twitter and Google recently threatened to stop offering their services in the administrative region if the authorities proceed with proposals that could make tech firms liable for user-generated content.