Microsoft will shutter LinkedIn in China by the end of the year

Microsoft will shut down its localized version of LinkedIn in China by the end of the year, the company announced Thursday.

“A significantly more challenging operating environment.” The company cited a difficult operating environment, enhanced compliance requirements and a lack of success with the social aspects of its platform as reasons for shutting down LinkedIn in China.

“While we’ve found success in helping Chinese members find jobs and economic opportunity, we have not found that same level of success in the more social aspects of sharing and staying informed,” the company said, “We’re also facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China. Given this, we’ve made the decision to sunset the current localized version of LinkedIn, which is how people in China access LinkedIn’s global social media platform, later this year.”

InJobs to launch in China. As it sunsets LinkedIn, Microsoft plans to launch InJobs, a new, standalone jobs application for China, later this year as well. Unlike LinkedIn, InJobs will not have a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles.

Why we care. Sunsetting LinkedIn in China is likely to hinder B2B businesses that have a partner there or rely on the platform for communication with potential partners. Additionally, LinkedIn advertisers will no longer have access to users in China. However, it is likely that InJobs will offer some of these capabilities.

With regards to the social media industry, LinkedIn is the last domino to fall as all other major U.S.-based social media platforms — like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, Pinterest and Reddit, to name a few — are blocked in China. Interestingly, the hottest social media network in the world at the moment, TikTok, is based in China and actively censors content.

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