After exploring the market for years, LinkedIn is formally entering China with a new beta site that will adhere to the nations strict rules on online censorship.
The new Chinese language site, called Lingying, launched on Monday and hopes to tap over 140 million professionals living in the country, LinkedIn said in a company blog post.
The professional social networking site has been eyeing the Chinese market, where it already has four million members. But until Monday LinkedIn had largely been an English-language site to users in the country.
By launching the site, the company has also agreed to follow Chinas controversial regulations on censorship. Those rules generally require local sites to filter out politically sensitive content, either by deleting user posts, curtailing certain searches or shutting down user accounts.
On Monday, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner wrote in a blog post that the company supports free speech and disagrees with government censorship. But after discussing the matter with experts, including business leaders and global human rights groups, LinkedIn decided more could be in gained in helping Chinese users connect to new economic opportunities.
Extending our service in China raises difficult questions, but it is clear to us that the decision to proceed is the right one, Weiner wrote.
The Chinese site plans to only censor content when required, and LinkedIn said it will be transparent about its practices in China. Extensive measures will also be taken to protect company users data, Weiner added.
Its unclear if abiding to Chinas online censorship will affect LinkedIns English-language website. In February 2011, LinkedIn was briefly blocked in China at a time when local authorities were clamping down on mentions of a pro-democratic movement called the Jasmine Revolution.
LinkedIn is just the latest U.S. Internet company to try to enter China, a market foreign firms have often struggled to compete in. Google and Yahoo once had major ambitions to expand in the country, but have clashed with Chinas demands on content control.
In the case of Yahoo, the company found itself in controversy over the jailing of a Chinese journalist. In 2004, the journalist was arrested after Yahoo provided Chinese authorities with his email records that detailed the governments attempts to restrict local media.
Here is the original post:
LinkedIn opens Chinese-language site, agrees to rules on censorship
- Unnecessary Censorship in Skyrim Dawnguard by Normal Difficulty - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Is Censorship Ever Justified? - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Researchers fight censorship on China's Weibo - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- This Week in Unnecessary Censorship - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Censorship in Politics on the Rise - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Censorship Makes No Sense! - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Government Censorship Requests to Google Exploding - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Google Censorship Report - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Unnecessary Censorship in Video Games - Skyrim Part 5 - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Solar Censorship - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- euronews interview - Farhadi - self-censorship 'real danger' for Iranian filmmakers - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Youtube censorship. Let's make youtube the next Myspace - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Political Correctness SUCKS! Subliminal Censorship - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Iran Internet Censorship - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Unnecessary Censorship in Video Games - Mass Effect 3 Part 2 - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- In China, is censorship the mother of creativity? - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Unnecessary Censorship in Mass Effect 3 by Normal Difficulty - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- AOL censors blogs? - Video [Last Updated On: September 7th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 7th, 2012]
- Tunisia: Govt Drops Internet Censorship [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2012]
- Selectmen fear censorship at Saugus TV [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2012]
- Chinese 'blind spot' for Western readers [Last Updated On: September 8th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 8th, 2012]
- The New Yorker Got Temporarily Banned From Facebook for Posting Cartoon Boobs [Censorship] [Last Updated On: September 11th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 11th, 2012]
- Back Story: Orwellian-speak [Last Updated On: September 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 13th, 2012]
- EDIT: Facebook Censorship [Last Updated On: September 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 13th, 2012]
- Nothing, however vile, justifies censorship [Last Updated On: September 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 16th, 2012]
- 'US administration has put blame where it belongs' [Last Updated On: September 19th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 19th, 2012]
- Iran Shuts Down Google, Will Completely Cut Citizens Off the Internet [Censorship] [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2012]
- Belarus’s illusion of democracy [Last Updated On: September 25th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 25th, 2012]
- Censorship In The Americas: Google Brazil Chief Just Released From Custody [Last Updated On: September 28th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 28th, 2012]
- Global censorship of Internet on the rise [Last Updated On: September 29th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 29th, 2012]
- Big Brother still watching: Internet censorship is up, report says [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- Big Brother still watching: Internet censorship on the up, report says [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- Internet censorship up, report says [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- Internet Censorship on the Up, Report Says [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- Big Brother still watching: Internet censorship up, report says [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- National banned book week sheds light on censorship [Last Updated On: September 30th, 2012] [Originally Added On: September 30th, 2012]
- Iran unblocks access to Gmail [Last Updated On: October 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 1st, 2012]
- Iran unblocks Gmail, plans local alternatives [Last Updated On: October 1st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 1st, 2012]
- Kurt Vonnegut, Harper Lee, and Other Literary Greats on Censorship [Last Updated On: October 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 2nd, 2012]
- Read-out being held to raise awareness for banned book week [Last Updated On: October 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 2nd, 2012]
- Bike Matadors and Censorship Towels Spring From Ad Firm’s Creative Offshoot [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Letter: White House guilty of censorship by stealth in seeking YouTube removal [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- YouTube goes legit in Turkey, bringing more sales and more censorship [Last Updated On: October 3rd, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 3rd, 2012]
- Cantor revisits 1937 degeneracy, censorship [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2012]
- Kent Free Library brings attention to censorship with participation in Banned Books Week [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2012]
- Media watchdog accuses Iran of intimidating journalists [Last Updated On: October 4th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 4th, 2012]
- ‘Media censorship is back…’ [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2012]
- Philippine president defends cybercrime law [Last Updated On: October 5th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 5th, 2012]
- Iran censors currency rates as rial suffers [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2012]
- Censorship Bill pushed aside by Parliament [Last Updated On: October 10th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 10th, 2012]
- Internet censorship: Let it rot in walled gardens [Last Updated On: October 12th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 12th, 2012]
- The Surprising Truth About Internet Censorship In The Middle East [Last Updated On: October 13th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 13th, 2012]
- As 9/11 Pretrial Begins, ACLU Calls Out "Orwellian" Censorship of CIA Torture [Last Updated On: October 16th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 16th, 2012]
- Theatre censorship set to be a thing of the past [Last Updated On: October 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 17th, 2012]
- China scrambles to censor novelist Mo Yan's Nobel Prize [Last Updated On: October 17th, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 17th, 2012]
- Internet anti-censorship tools are being overwhelmed by demand [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Censorship would hinder the Internet revolution [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Pre-Election Reading: Wen Stephenson on Climate Self-Censorship [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Director takes Chinese censorship, business battles public [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- ‘Censorship would still be around were it not for divorce’ – Owen Bonnici [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Qatari draft media law criticized by rights group [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Avila Fine Arts Lovers "Forbidden Books Part 1 and 2" - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Anonymous - OpBigBrother: Worldwide Protests 12/08/2012 engl - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Journalists Resist: 'Where is the freedom of speech?' - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- G20 invisible plot Censorship International conference Dangerous information - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- 'Qatar media censorship law ill advised' - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Facebook Censorship of Navy Seals - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- NWO`s war against the press continues as Greek journalists go on strike, alleging state censorship - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Yung Glynn [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Social Media Censorship - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy's Christmas (Rare Australian Radio Edit) - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Introduction video about my Asperger's Syndrome - Video [Last Updated On: October 31st, 2012] [Originally Added On: October 31st, 2012]
- Forget SOPA, Russia Activates Web Censorship Blacklist Law [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Censorship fears loom as Russian law allowing 'Internet blacklisting' takes effect [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Exhibit Looks At Comic Book Censorship [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Their View: China censorship shows leaders still have much to hide [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Let's Play Lucius - Part 7 - Satanic Rituals and Shocking Baths - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Mike Malloy on censorship of US history in schools (10/26/12) - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- Btooom! - Episode 5 Review - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]
- PSA OUTAKE 2 - Video [Last Updated On: November 2nd, 2012] [Originally Added On: November 2nd, 2012]