LinkedIn hit by censorship in China

LinkedIn expanded into China this year, adopting policies in line with the country's censorship rules. Now the world's largest professional social-networking company is saying it may have gone too far.

When a LinkedIn user in China shares a post deemed to be in conflict with the government’s rules, the company blocks the content not only in China but around the world.

LinkedIn’s goal is to protect members against how their content might be shared and noticed by the government, but the practice may end up stifling Chinese users seeking to spread messages outside their country.

“We do want to get this right, and we are strongly considering changing our policy so that content from our Chinese members that is not allowed in China will still be viewed globally,” said Hani Durzy, a spokesman for California-based LinkedIn.

The company’s dilemma underscores the difficulty of doing business in a country with stringent censorship rules where few other US technology companies have succeeded.

Twitter and Facebook social-networking services are blocked in China, though Facebook is slowly expanding its advertising business there after signing a lease in central Beijing. "Every company wanting to operate in China has to look within themselves and ask how do you serve your users ideally, whether that's by staying in China and operating by the rules or leaving the country," said Jason Ng, a New York-based author of Blocked on Weibo, a book on Chinese social media.

-(Bloomberg)