Hammad Khalid
Microsoft on Thursday said it will shut down the localized version of LinkedIn in China amid a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements.
The company’s new approach in China would focus on linking professionals with opportunities, according to the corporation. Later this year, LinkedIn aims to introduce In Jobs, a new independent employment platform in China. According to LinkedIn, the app will not contain social feeds or the ability to share posts or articles.
In its blog post announcing the move and a plan to launch a new China-only standalone product called InJobs, Microsoft did not directly reference those reports. Instead, it says:
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.
Via The Verge
Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that the Chinese government instructed Microsoft to better regulate its content in March, with a 30-day deadline.
In 2014, LinkedIn, which was bought by Microsoft in 2016, debuted a Chinese-language version of the professional social network. It was the last major social media platform headquartered in the United States to publicly operate in China.
Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter, among other social media sites, have long been blocked in China, and Google withdrew from the nation in 2010.
