Russia could soon block LinkedIn, after a Russian court ruled against the social media site on Thursday.
Moscow’s Tagansky District Court decided that LinkedIn’s site should be blocked back in August, and yesterday the court opted to uphold the ruling against LinkedIn on appeal.
Communications watchdog Raskomnadzor said LinkedIn was violating a law that requires websites to only store Russian citizens’ personal data on Russian servers, according to the Interfax news agency (via Reuters).
This is the first time this law has been enforced since it was first introduced in 2014. Some critics see this as a way for the Russian government to tighten control on the web, trying to limit the use of social media platforms available.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told Reuters: “LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce. The Russian court’s decision has the potential to deny access to LinkedIn for the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their business.”
Vadim Ampelonskiy, a spokesperson for Roskomnadzor, told The Washington Post: “The access will be shut within days. LinkedIn failed to provide documents on moving personal databases to Russia.”
He also added that other companies such as Google, Uber, eBay and Booking.com have, by contrast, started making changes to ensure they comply with Russian law.
LinkedIn has more than six million registered users in Russia.
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