Microsoft pulls the plug on the Chinese version of LinkedIn and comes up with an alternative

Microsoft will soon stop using LinkedIn in China. According to the company, the social aspect of the platform was not successful and had to function in increasingly difficult Chinese conditions. In exchange, Microsoft will introduce a platform later this year on which only vacancies can be seen.

LinkedIn has been operating in China since 2014 with a modified version of the platform. The social part of the platform, the sharing of messages and the newsfeed, was not successful enough in its own words, which is why the company will soon pull the plug in the Asian country. In a blog post, an employee of the company mentioned that it was also increasingly struggling with the “challenging operating environment” and that it had to meet more and more demands from the Chinese government.

In order to remain active in the Chinese market, Microsoft will introduce a new platform later this year, called InJobs, on which only job advertisements will be shown.

Update 18.35: First sentence of the body text has been changed. He stated that Microsoft introduced the modified version of LinkedIn in China in 2014. This was factually incorrect. Thanks to chaos control.