LinkedIn is closing its social network in China, citing “a challenging operating environment” and “greater compliance requirements”.

The social network has 53 million users in the country, around 7 per cent of its total user base.
LinkedIn launched in China in 2014, before it was acquired in 2016 for $26 billion by Microsoft.

LinkedIn is set to be replaced in China by a new website called “InJobs”, which does not allow users to share posts or news.

The news comes after LinkedIn was ordered by China’s internet regulator in March to “clean up” its online content, the platform was given a 30-day deadline to comply according to The Wall Street Journal’s sources.

China has historically taken an extremely hard line on social media censorship; Facebook and Twitter have been banned in the country since 2009.

Google left the country in 2010 citing censorship concerns, while Amazon is still available.
China is currently LinkedIn’s third-largest market according to data from Statistica.

LinkedIn continues to be a significant part of Microsoft’s business model, the firm generated over $10 billion in revenue over the last year according to chief executive Satya Nadella in July.

The news comes after China blocked the profiles of several US journalists and academics from the Chinese version of the platform, on the grounds that these were “prohibited content”.

"While we are going to sunset the localised version of LinkedIn in China later this year, we will continue to have a strong presence in China to drive our new strategy and are excited to launch the new InJobs app later this year," said LinkedIn senior vice president Mohak Shroff.

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