LinkedIn opens Chinese-language site, agrees to rules on censorship

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.

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LinkedIn opens Chinese-language site, agrees to rules on censorship