Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn is shuttering a localized version of its professional networking platform in China, becoming the last major U.S. social media provider to pull out of the country and marking the demise of a rare U.S. tech success there.
LinkedIn said it made the decision in light of "a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.” The company will close the current version later this year, LinkedIn said Thursday in a blog post.
After entering China in 2014, LinkedIn seemed to offer a model for American internet companies in the country. In exchange for being allowed to operate, the company agreed to restrict some content to adhere to state censorship rules. The service had about 52 million users in mainland China. Other U.S.-based social media platforms such as Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. have long been banned.