Yahoo to cease offering services in China due to ‘troublesome legislation’

Yahoo’s services and websites have been unavailable in China since Monday. The company says it is doing this because of the “business and legal situation that is becoming increasingly difficult” in the country. A few weeks ago, Microsoft stopped using LinkedIn in China.

Users who now go to a Yahoo site in China will be notified that the service is no longer available in the country. In a statement to Reuters, among others, the company says it will no longer offer services in the country in the context of the situation that is “becoming more and more difficult”. “Yahoo remains committed to our users’ rights and a free and open Internet,” the company wrote.

In recent years, Yahoo already offered fewer services in the country than elsewhere in the world, although there was a variant of Engadget and a weather app. Yahoo’s email services had previously disappeared from China.

The company does not provide additional details about the reasons for the departure. For example, the Protection of Personal Information Act may play a role. This law has been in force since Monday and obliges companies to be stricter with privacy-sensitive data. Foreign companies that process user data must also have a Chinese representative.

In mid-October, Microsoft stopped offering LinkedIn in China. The company said it is doing so due to a lack of success and “the challenging operating environment.” Later, Microsoft’s new platform InJobs will appear in the country, on which advertisements for jobs will be found.