LinkedIn Initial Public Offering endangered by Chinese censorship

After LinkedIn users brought up the subject of revolt in the Arab world, the Chinese government censored the website. Discussions about Arab world protests on LinkedIn attracted the attention of Chinese censors, who abruptly shut the website down. China’s censorship of LinkedIn comes as the network prepares for an Initial Public Offering that could possibly be endangered by a denial of presence in China.

LinkedIn not approved in China which means a fight against the Good Firewall

China’s notorious “Great Firewall” has censored LinkedIn as part of a broader effort by the Beijing government to suppress dissent provoked by protests in the Middle East. Facebook and Twitter are other sites that have been obstructed in China. These have been blocked since 2009. Any self-censored social networking sites are allowed by China. Chinese individuals have already known what Chinese officials have just figured out. LinkedIn is totally integrated with Twitter which isn't good. Subversive communications might be easily distributed through Twitter using the LinkedIn portal.

Why China censored LinkedIn

China censored LinkedIn after a user launched a discussion group last week asking for input on how the wave of unrest that ousted dictators in Tunisia and Egypt could reach China. The LinkedIn user, “Jazmine Z” first wrote of “dying for democracy, freedom and justice in my homeland." A post that followed said the Beijing government fails to "realize the crisis of the autocratic one-party system." The Chinese communist party was attacked in a last post before being censored where it was called “a Power and elite club.” Before LinkedIn was obstructed, there was lots of other stuff censored by the Chinese government. It is clear the government is worried about the Middle Eastern Jasmine Revolution making its way into China.

LinkedIn Initial Public Offering threatened

If Chinese censorship of LinkedIn becomes more than a symbolic gesture, the company’s planned Initial Public Offering could be threatened. LinkedIn hopes to raise $175 million in an IPO either on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. Exclusion from the Chinese Internet industry — the world’s largest with about 450 million users and counting — would lead investors to question LinkedIn’s future growth and profits. The price that investors would be willing to pay for shares of a LinkedIn censored in China would have to be taken into account.

Articles cited

CNN

cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/02/25/china.blocks.linkedin.fastco/index.html?npt=NP1

Business Week

businessweek.com/news/2011-02-25/linkedin-blocked-in-china-after-jasmine-protest-postings.html

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/02/24/china-linkedin-idUSTOE71N06P20110224

Reuters

reuters.com/article/2011/02/24/china-linkedin-idUSTOE71N06P20110224