Yahoo Inc on Tuesday said that it has pulled out of China, citing an increasingly challenging operating environment.
The withdrawal was largely symbolic, as many of the company’s services were already blocked by China’s digital censorship.
However, recent government moves to expand its control over tech companies generally, including its domestic giants, might have tipped the scales for Yahoo.
Photo: AP
“In recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment in China, Yahoo’s suite of services will no longer be accessible from mainland China as of November 1,” the company said in a statement.
It said it “remains committed to the rights of our users and a free and open Internet.”
Yahoo is the latest foreign tech company to exit China. Google gave up several years ago, and Microsoft Corp’s professional networking platform LinkedIn said last month it would shutter its Chinese site, replacing it with a jobs board instead.
China has also blocked most international social media sites, such as Facebook. Some users in China circumvent the block by using a virtual private network that masks who you are and where you are logging in from.
In their place, Chinese companies have filled the void, creating an alternative Internet with its own digital giants. Baidu Inc’s (百度) search engine has largely replaced Yahoo and Google in China, and WeChat (微信) and Sina Weibo (微博) are the leading social media platforms.
Yahoo’s departure coincided with the implementation of China’s Personal Information Protection Law, which limits what information companies can gather and sets standards for how it must be stored.
Chinese laws also stipulate that companies operating in the country must hand over data if requested by authorities, making it difficult for Western firms to operate in China as they might also face pressure back home over giving in to China’s demands.
Yahoo was harshly criticized by lawmakers in the US in 2007 after it handed over data on two Chinese dissidents to Beijing, eventually leading to their imprisonment.
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