The world’s most popular social media platforms are unavailable in China. None of the social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Messenger, are allowed to operate in China. The only major social networking platform that isn’t blocked in China is LinkedIn. And now that Microsoft has declared that LinkedIn would be shut down in China, it won’t be able to operate there.
In a blog post, the US-based tech giant said it is “facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China. Given this, we’ve made the decision to sunset the current localised version of LinkedIn, which is how people in China access LinkedIn’s global social media platform, later this year.”
According to a previous report by The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese internet regulator has instructed Microsoft to control its content properly. Some US journalists had their LinkedIn accounts prohibited in China, while professors and researchers had their accounts blocked. Big Tech companies have always been targeted in China, and corporations like Facebook and Google have a near-zero presence. Apple is one of the few major American tech companies with a significant presence in China.
Microsoft isn’t exiting China completely as the company said that its new strategy will be focused “on helping China-based professionals find jobs in China and Chinese companies find quality candidates.”
InJobs, a new job application portal for China, will be launched to help with this. It will lack a social feed, making it impossible for users to share posts or articles. “This decision aligns with our commitment to creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. While that has been our vision for nearly two decades now, it feels more important than ever as we all strive to build a global economy that delivers more prosperity and progress to people all over the world,” said Microsoft in the blog post.
