LinkedIn on Thursday announced that its professional network platform will be closing down in China.
Microsoft owns the platform. It was expanded in China in 2014.
“We recognized that operating a localized version of LinkedIn in China would mean adherence to requirements of the Chinese government on Internet platforms. This approach was taken to help our members, both in China and elsewhere around the world. While freedom of speech is something we support strongly, it does not mean that we are against free expression. We also established a clear set of guidelines to follow should we ever need to re-evaluate our localized version of LinkedIn in China.”
In a blog on its website, the platform said the shutdown was caused by “a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.”
LinkedIn is not closing down all its China operations. LinkedIn said that it will offer a new app to China’s job market, which is focused on posting jobs. The app won’t have the same sharing or commenting capabilities as it has in the United States.
“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,” the blog continued. “Later this year, we will launch InJobs, a new, standalone jobs application for China. InJobs won’t have a social media feed nor the ability to post or share articles. We will also continue to work with Chinese businesses to help them create economic opportunity.”
U.S. companies have faced challenges when responding to China’s authoritarianism.
Eileen Donahoe, the executive director of the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, discussed the “dilemma” private companies are facing.
“It has gotten pretty ugly around the world where authoritarian governments are forcing the private sector, particularly U.S. tech companies, into these dilemmas,” she said.
You can start earlier in the calendar year NewsbustersReports claimed that Facebook deliberately suppressed news regarding the brutal realities of the Communist regime.
“Facebook accounts run by Chinese state-controlled media have used videos, images and commentary about Uyghurs to construct a narrative of happiness and economic achievement. China has also used its state media’s presence on Facebook to justify its arbitrary detentions and other genocidal actions on Facebook by framing them as help. A post from China Plus Culture retold the alleged story of “a young Uyghur woman” who “walked away from a life of violence and extremism thanks to one of China’s vocational education and training centers.”
About Post Author
