GitLab—GitLab forced users in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong to migrate to JiHu entity or lose accounts
In December 2023, GitLab announced that users in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong must migrate to JiHu (gitlab.cn), a separate Chinese entity, by February 2025 or have their accounts deleted. Some users reported accounts being deleted with minimal notice. GitLab had licensed its technology to JiHu to serve the Chinese market, but the forced migration raised concerns about data sovereignty and user choice.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| User Privacy | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.295 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
GitLab forced China/HK/Macau users to migrate to JiHu or face account deletion
GitLab's official FAQ confirmed that users in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong were required to migrate to JiHu (gitlab.cn) by February 2025, after which their accounts would be deleted. Forum posts from affected users reported account deletions with minimal notice.