LinkedIn to shut down services in China

Microsoft announced it will shut down LinkedIn in China due to the challenging operating environment that requires increasingly greater compliance obligations. Microsoft decided to offer a new website for the Chinese market focused only on job postings. In this new website, there will not be social networking features. LinkedIn has been one of the most resilient foreign social networks in China. Due to governmental over control, Facebook and Twitter have not operated in the country for many years. In order to exist in China, LinkedIn agreed to comply with Chinese law and to censor the posts of millions of citizens. LinkedIn has faced censorship laws but also data security challenges. A novel Chinese data security law requires companies to store more data on local users in the country and provide access to authorities. Finally, LinkedIn was also largely used by agents related to the government with the purpose of recruiting spies. China was the third largest LinkedIn’s market, after the United States and India.