LinkedIn was the last major U.S. social network still operating in China, which has some of the strictest censorship rules. Social media platforms and websites like Twitter and Facebook have been blocked for more than a decade in the country, while Google decided to shutter operations in 2010.
Microsoft said it would shut down LinkedIn due to a “significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.” Instead, Microsoft will launch a job search site in China that doesn’t have LinkedIn’s social media features.
It comes after the career-networking site faced questions for blocking the profiles of some journalists.
LinkedIn will launch a jobs-only version of the site, called InJobs, later this year.
But this will not include a social feed or the ability to share or post articles.
LinkedIn senior vice-president Mohak Shroff blogged: "We're facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China."
And the firm said in a statement: "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."