After LinkedIn, it is the turn of Yahoo, one of the most popular search engines in the early days of the Internet, to leave China, as the country tightens the screw on the digital sector, announced the American group. , this Tuesday.
Yahoo services have been "no longer accessible from mainland China" since November 1, the group said in an undated statement.
A "difficult" environment
Yahoo launched a search engine in the country in 1999, banking on the growth of a gigantic market in the making at a time when the Internet was in its infancy in China.
The Asian giant is today one of the most connected countries in the world with particularly dynamic and innovative local companies.
Contacted by AFP, a spokesperson for Yahoo justified this decision, citing "the increasingly difficult commercial and legal environment in China".
Yahoo had significantly downsized in China since shutting down its messaging service in 2013.
"Great computer wall"
The US company is the latest in a list of global heavyweights to throw in the towel in the Chinese market.
Last month, Microsoft's professional social network LinkedIn also announced it was leaving China due to a "difficult environment".
In the name of "stability", the Chinese authorities remove politically sensitive subjects from the web and internet giants are urged to block unwanted content.
Refusing to comply with Beijing's demands, the American social networks Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, the participatory encyclopedia Wikipedia, as well as multiple foreign media are totally blocked in China by a "great computer wall" erected by the censors of the diet.
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