Russia Blocks LinkedIn -- Update

By Amie Ferris-Rotman

MOSCOW--Russia has formally blocked professional social network LinkedIn Corp., its communications regulator Roskomnadzor said Thursday.

The landmark ban comes a week after a Moscow court upheld a decision to block the U.S.-based company for not agreeing to store personal data of Russian users within the country's borders, a law that came into effect a year ago. LinkedIn is the first foreign company to clash with Russia over the law.

Roskomnadzor said it had told Russian Internet providers to block the site, and LinkedIn said the ban was already happening. "We are starting to hear from members in Russia that they can no longer access LinkedIn," a LinkedIn spokesman said.

LinkedIn remains "interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization request," the spokesman said.

LinkedIn has 2.6 million users in Russia, according to the marketing research firm TNS. Its share in Russia is significantly smaller than other social networking sites such as Facebook.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2016 06:07 ET (11:07 GMT)

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