Link is the only U.S. social network authorized to operate in mainland China, and its users are primarily working professionals. Link’s mainland China service has more than 50 million members.
The report cited three people familiar with the matter as saying that while it was not clear what material was causing trouble for Linking, regulators said they found posts with unacceptable content during China’s two sessions.
One person familiar with the matter also said that Collingwood was also forced to suspend new user registrations in mainland China for 30 days, though that period could change depending on the government’s judgment.
The New York Times noted that Collingwood’s longstanding presence in mainland China has been attracting interest from across Silicon Valley as a potential way to access the country’s blocked Internet – Home to the world’s largest group of Web users. The penalty underscores the deep divide between the U.S. and China over how the Internet should operate.
Reports say Communist authorities have blocked major U.S. services such as Facebook, Twitter and Google for years because of their inability to control what people post on those sites. Critics in Washington say such barriers represent the CCP’s unwillingness to follow broad global norms for the Internet and technology.
Collage issued a statement on the 9th of this month saying it had “temporarily” stopped registering new users in mainland China. The statement also said, “We are a global platform and have an obligation to respect the laws that apply to us, including complying with the regulations of the Chinese Communist Party authorities that regulate our localized version of Collage in China.”
Local Chinese companies are often subject to similar accusations, demonstrating how difficult it is to move forward in an Internet market characterized by increasingly strict speech controls. Consent censorship does not guarantee that any foreign or local company will be able to operate smoothly on the mainland Chinese Internet.
When Collingwood announced its intention to open a mainland China site nearly seven years ago, it attracted the curiosity of the U.S. Internet industry, which is permanently blocked by the country’s “Great Firewall. To ensure its survival, it sold its stake to a Chinese venture capital partner and pledged to comply with local laws, including censorship guidelines.
The company combines software algorithms and human censorship to flag posts that may offend Beijing, the report noted. Users who violate the speaking rules typically receive emails informing them that their posts are not viewable by China-based Linking members.
Its early moves angered users whose content was blocked, even if they were posting from abroad. Unlike its peers, however, Collage still has a presence in mainland China and offers a coveted case study in market access.
But that persistence doesn’t always translate into success. Collage has had a hard Time competing with WeChat – the ubiquitous Chinese chat and social media service – and remains a relatively small competitor.
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