Microsoft to shut down LinkedIn in China

Microsoft has announced it is shutting down its professional networking and career development platform, LinkedIn, in China owing to the Chinese government’s regulatory policies that are becoming difficult to comply with.

The decision was triggered by the questionings the career-networking platform was subjected to after the profiles of some journalists were blocked.

Recently, LinkedIn blacklisted several journalist accounts, including those of Melissa Chan and Greg Bruno, from its China-based website.

Mr. Bruno had written a book detailing the harsh treatment of the Chinese government on the Tibetan refugees. Bruno said he was not surprised the Chinese government took offence at the publication but was surprised that LinkedIn bowed to pressure from the Chinese government.

The company disclosed it will launch another version of its site ‘InJobs,’ a jobs-only version later this year but this will not include a social feed or the ability to share or post articles.

LinkedIn senior vice-president Mohak Shroff via a blogpost said, “We recognized that operating a localized version of LinkedIn in China would mean adherence to requirements of the Chinese government on Internet platforms. While we strongly support freedom of expression, we took this approach in order to create value for our members in China and around the world. We also established a clear set of guidelines to follow should we ever need to re-evaluate our localized version of LinkedIn in China.

The company also said, “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. We’re also facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China. Given this, we’ve made the decision to sunset the current localized version of LinkedIn, which is how people in China access LinkedIn’s global social media platform, later this year.”

“Our new strategy for China is to put our focus on helping China-based professionals find jobs in China and Chinese companies find quality candidates. Later this year, we will launch InJobs, a new, standalone jobs application for China,” the company added.

And the firm said in a statement: “While we are going to sunset the localised version of LinkedIn in China later this year, we will continue to have a strong presence in China to drive our new strategy and are excited to launch the new InJobs app later this year.”

Interestingly, LinkedIn had been the only western social media platform operating from China. When it launched in 2014, it pledged to adhere to the conditions given by the Chinese authorities and also to be transparent in its dealings, however, it did not hide its disapproval of government censorship.

The President of LinkedIn, China Lu Jian, has reportedly written to the platform’s users in China today pledging that the site will continue to “connect global business opportunities”.