Microsoft is going to shut down its social media network, LinkedIn, in China. The company argues that complying with the Chinese working environment has increasingly become more challenging. Microsoft faced questions after blocking the profile of several journalists. Therefore, the company decided to shut down LinkedIn in China.
LinkedIn is planning to launch only a job portal by the name of “InJobs”. This app will not have the feature of including a social post or the ability to share any article.
The senior vice president of LinkedIn commented “We’re facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”
On the other hand, the company said in a statement that we are going to shut down LinkedIn later this year but we will come up with a more strong presence in China. The company is excited to launch its new job app “InJobs” later this year.
LinkedIn was launched in 2014 in China. This is the only western social media app operating in China. Before launching the company agreed to follow all the requirements of the Chinese government to operate in China. It promised to be transparent in its business operations. Now it is disagreeing with Chinese censorship policies.
LinkedIn recently blocked accounts of several Chinese journalists like Melissa Chan and Greg Bruno. Greg Bruno is the author of a book documenting the Chinese treatment of Tibetan refugees.
US senator Rick Scott called the move a “gross appeasement and an act of submission to Communist China”, in a letter to LinkedIn chief executive Ryan Roslansky and Microsoft boss Satya Nadella.
Heavily controlled Chinese internet policies making business difficult for LinkedIn
It is difficult to say that LinkedIn’s action was because of pressure from the Chinese government or the US or both. But the fact is that the Chinese government has tightened its hold over the internet. LinkedIn is facing severe criticism from America as it has complied with Chinese censorship rules.
After LinkedIn launched in 2014, the company was expecting to capture a huge Chinese market. Initially, it faced great competition from the local competitors. Later in March LinkedIn was punished by Chinese regulators for not censoring political content. As a punishment new user’s registration was banned for 30 days.
In a letter by the President of LinkedIn in China, promised to continue to connect global business opportunities. But the announcement to shutdown LinkedIn in china reveals an opposite trend. The country’s policy to heavily control the internet in China is making it difficult for the companies to operate its operation smoothly.
7 Comments
Comments are closed.