Russia has banned LinkedIn
Russia has banned LinkedIn, the Financial Times (FT) reports.
Russia's communications watchdog Roskomnadzor has reportedly added the social network to a list of blacklisted websites.
As a result, internet service providers in Russia will have to block access to the website.
Legislation was passed in Russia in 2014 that made it mandatory for overseas internet companies to store Russian users' personal data on servers in Russia.
Roskomnadzor has taken issue with the way that the San Francisco-headquartered company handles the data of its citizens and a Moscow court upheld a verdict last week, according to the FT. The court ruling reportedly "paves the way" for the cite to be banned.
Roskomnadzor and LinkedIn have reportedly refused to discuss the matter with one another.
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More than 6 million people in Russia are registered LinkedIn users, according to Reuters. It is the first major social network to be blocked in Russia and it could set a precedent for the way US tech giants operate in the country.
Silicon Valley firms like Facebook and Twitter are yet to comply with Russia's data laws despite repeated threats of a ban, the FT reports.
Roskomnadzor has blocked a number of other sites in Russia. Wikipedia was banned last year for several days after it featured an article on cannabis smoking, for example. Pornography websites YouPorn and Pornhub were also blocked by Roskomnadzor in September.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told Business Insider: "LinkedIn's vision is to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce. We are starting to hear from members in Russia that they can no longer access LinkedIn.
"Roskomnadzor's action to block LinkedIn denies access to the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses. We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization request."
Roskomnadzor did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
