LinkedIn—LinkedIn censored content in China at government direction, complying with 98% of removal requests before withdrawing in 2021
From 2014 when LinkedIn launched in China, the platform complied with Beijing's censorship directives, blocking content related to Tiananmen, politically sensitive topics, and profiles of journalists and academics. According to LinkedIn's 2022 transparency report, the company complied with 42 of 43 Chinese government content removal requests in 2021. LinkedIn also blocked international users' profiles from being visible in China, creating a two-tiered system. After Congressional criticism in October 2021, LinkedIn announced it would shut down its full China service, replacing it with a jobs-only app (InJobs/InCareer) which itself was shut down in August 2023.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Content Moderation | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
LinkedIn complied with 98% of Chinese government content removal requests and censored Tiananmen content
LinkedIn admitted in 2014 it would follow Beijing's censorship directives in China. According to its 2022 transparency report, LinkedIn complied with 42 of 43 Chinese government content removal requests in 2021. The company blocked Tiananmen-related content, journalist profiles, and politically sensitive material. After US Congressional criticism in October 2021, LinkedIn shut down its full China service, replacing it with a jobs-only app that was itself shuttered in August 2023.