LinkedIn shutting down in China after mounting government pressure to censor social media content
(2021/10/15)
- Reference: 1634249931
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/10/14/linkedin_china_microsoft/
- Source link:
LinkedIn is shuttering its social networking service in China as it faces mounting pressure to comply with the country’s strict censorship rules, it announced on Thursday.
“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,” Mohak Shroff, senior veep of engineering [1]said in a statement.
“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,” we're told.
[2]
Instead LinkedIn will launch a new service named InJobs that will advertise and process job applications. InJobs will not have a social feed, people will not be able to write posts or share articles.
[3]
[4]
A localized version of the company’s platform [5]was launched in China in 2014, and has grown from a few million users to over 50 million users in the last seven years. Maintaining the social side of the service was currently difficult, the Microsoft-owned biz said. The Chinese government heavily monitors social media and cracks down on politically sensitive content.
[6]Chinese app binned by Beijing after asking what day it is on anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre
[7]Naughty karaoke is China's next tech crackdown target
[8]Tiananmen Square Tank Man vanishes from Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, other search engines – even in America
[9]Beijing's new privacy rules ban apps collecting unnecessary data, require free service without data slurps
Regulatory authorities punished LinkedIn for failing to take down posts and the company [10]temporarily paused new sign-ups as it worked to comply with local laws, earlier this year in March. It also blocked profiles of foreign journalists and academics from being accessed within China if they mentioned forbidden topics like the Tienanmen Square massacre.
“Our decision to launch a localized version of LinkedIn in China in February 2014 was driven by our mission to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful,” Shroff 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.”
[11]
The Register has asked LinkedIn for further comment. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://blog.linkedin.com/2021/october/14/china-sunset-of-localized-version-of-linkedin-and-launch-of-new-injobs-app
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/25/linkedin_china_launch_censorship/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/chinese_app_xiaohongshu_censored_by_beijing/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/12/china_karaoke_and_drinking_crackdowns/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/04/search_engine_tiananmen/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/30/china_app_data_collection_rules/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/10/linkedin_china_pauses_signups/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
“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,” Mohak Shroff, senior veep of engineering [1]said in a statement.
“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,” we're told.
[2]
Instead LinkedIn will launch a new service named InJobs that will advertise and process job applications. InJobs will not have a social feed, people will not be able to write posts or share articles.
[3]
[4]
A localized version of the company’s platform [5]was launched in China in 2014, and has grown from a few million users to over 50 million users in the last seven years. Maintaining the social side of the service was currently difficult, the Microsoft-owned biz said. The Chinese government heavily monitors social media and cracks down on politically sensitive content.
[6]Chinese app binned by Beijing after asking what day it is on anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre
[7]Naughty karaoke is China's next tech crackdown target
[8]Tiananmen Square Tank Man vanishes from Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, other search engines – even in America
[9]Beijing's new privacy rules ban apps collecting unnecessary data, require free service without data slurps
Regulatory authorities punished LinkedIn for failing to take down posts and the company [10]temporarily paused new sign-ups as it worked to comply with local laws, earlier this year in March. It also blocked profiles of foreign journalists and academics from being accessed within China if they mentioned forbidden topics like the Tienanmen Square massacre.
“Our decision to launch a localized version of LinkedIn in China in February 2014 was driven by our mission to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful,” Shroff 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.”
[11]
The Register has asked LinkedIn for further comment. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://blog.linkedin.com/2021/october/14/china-sunset-of-localized-version-of-linkedin-and-launch-of-new-injobs-app
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2014/02/25/linkedin_china_launch_censorship/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/08/chinese_app_xiaohongshu_censored_by_beijing/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/12/china_karaoke_and_drinking_crackdowns/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/04/search_engine_tiananmen/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/30/china_app_data_collection_rules/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/10/linkedin_china_pauses_signups/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YWj9ABCrJqEKXwau26VAlQAAAMw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
elsergiovolador
They have always been at war with everyone else.
They are at war with their own people by means of communism. It's contagious though, so it's best they get isolated from the rest of the world.
Anonymous Coward
Well, I was going to add "and all the people on both sides of the wall are hostages to their aims."
But contagious? Not the ideology, which is not followed even there. But the techniques? The control mechanisms? Success breeds imitation, I fear. I fear that immensely.
Big news!
Anonymous Coward
Today I am proud and honoured to say I am withdrawing my thinly disguised smoke blowing social network that I pass off as a professional tool from the Chinese market.
It’s been an amazing journey of learning and I’ve met some fabulous people along the way. However it’s now time for a new chapter and I can’t wait to see why the future brings!
No LinkedIn in China?
Winkypop
Lucky guys
The new great wall of China surrounds the whole country and keeps the barbarians outside. Inside that everything will be controlled by the party, as that is their supreme mandate.
The goal is a three layered world. Within China the CCP permanently 'guides' the people and economy. In near East Asia is being erected the new "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere", made possible by military might. Beyond that are the barbarians to be both exploited and ignored.
Imperialism, mercantilism, and disdain. The CCP has all of history to study to pick the best approaches to maintain and expand its power. Truly, all it need do is copy those who have successively threatened it through the last 200 years. Britain, Japan, Russia, the West in general. So... imperialism, mercantilism, and disdain.
Understand now what has always been true. Without any force for correction, the CCP will always fight for its self, to extend its self, to guarantee its self. They have always been at war with everyone else.