China Ramps Up Internet Censorship Effort, Blocks LinkedIn

Posted 02/25/2011 at 7:06am | by Paul Lilly

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LinkedIn, the world's largest online professional network, has been blocked in China, according to ComputerWorld. Analysts believe this has to do with the Chinese government's attempt to suppress any reference to a "Jasmine Revolution" -- the name given to the Tunisian protest movement-- on the Internet, a term which has been blocked in searches on Chinese microblog sites this past week.

"This appears to be a part of a broader effort in China going on right now, involving other sites as well," said Hani Durzy, a LinkedIn spokesman who confirmed that the site was inaccessible for some users in China.

China is known for censoring Internet sites, but over the past several weeks, the Chinese government has ramped up its efforts to block sites following anti-government protests in the Middle East. Searches for "Egypt," "Hillary," and "Hillary Clinton" have been blocked on a Twitter-like service in China (note that China already blocks both Twitter and Facebook, two of the most popular social networking sites in the U.S.).

The reason LinkedIn was targeted by China is because references to the Jasmine Revolution had begun appearing on the site.