Another Chinese real estate developer is in trouble 1:01
(CNN Business) -
LinkedIn is shutting down the local version of its service in China, a major setback for one of the few large US tech companies still operating in the country.
The Microsoft-owned professional networking platform made the decision due to a "significantly more challenging operating environment and higher compliance requirements in China," Mohak Shroff, LinkedIn's senior vice president of engineering, said in a blog post Thursday.
Instead, the company will launch a new platform called InJobs later this year, an exclusive portal for China that "will not include a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles", but will simply serve as a portal to list and apply for jobs.
"While we have been successful in helping Chinese users find jobs and economic opportunities, we have not found the same level of success in the more social aspects of sharing and staying informed," said Shroff.
Operating in China has always been a challenge for private companies, but conditions have become more difficult in the past year under President Xi Jinping.
A broad regulatory campaign in recent months has wiped out about $ 3 trillion from the market value of China's largest companies.
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LinkedIn has been available in China since 2014. Its presence in the country, where it has more than 45 million users, is notable because many other Western social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, are blocked by the huge Chinese government censorship apparatus known like the Great Firewall.
Microsoft has a long history in China, entering the market in 1992. Its software is widely used by the government and companies in the country, and its search engine Bing is also accessible, while Google has been excluded for years.
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Earlier this year, LinkedIn suspended the registration of new users in China to "ensure compliance with local law," according to a spokesperson at the time.
The company declined to elaborate on the local legislation it was examining.
"We recognized that operating a localized version of LinkedIn in China would mean adhering to government requirements on Internet platforms," Shroff said Thursday.
"While we strongly support freedom of expression, we take this approach to create value for our members in China and around the world."
LinkedIn will continue to work with Chinese companies "to help them create economic opportunities," he added.
- CNN Business's Laura He contributed to this report.