China denies using LinkedIn to recruit informants in Germany Duitsland

China has denied using LinkedIn to attract informants in Germany. With this, the government is responding to a warning from the German intelligence service. In addition, according to the service, China would use the business social network for information extraction.

A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that the German investigation is “a rumor and without basis,” The New York Times reported. In addition, German government officials should ‘behave more responsibly’. LinkedIn has also responded to the findings, saying it will remove the accounts identified by German intelligence.

The intelligence service, or the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, said Sunday through chairman Hans-Georg Maassen that China had approached about 10,000 Germans via fake accounts on LinkedIn, including government officials and politicians. To gain the trust of these people, the accounts posed as leaders of think tanks and headhunting companies. Their contacts were offered, among other things, fully paid trips, the newspaper writes.

According to Maas, China wanted to ‘infiltrate parliaments, ministries and governments in an extensive campaign’. Germany previously warned that China is interested in trade secrets and other sensitive information. LinkedIn, which belongs to Microsoft, is one of the few foreign social media companies operating in China.