LinkedIn Banned in Russia, More Tech Giants Likely to Follow

A Russian court in Moscow upheld a decision to block LinkedIn across Russia after the company had failed to abide by a law mandating that all foreign companies store data on Russian users inside the country's borders.

Behind the decision to ban LinkedIn is Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor, translated as the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies, and Mass Communications.

The agency had filed a complaint against LinkedIn in mid-October at a court in Moscow's Tagansky district. Roskomnadzor claimed that the recent LinkedIn breach had exposed the details of Russian citizens, and asked the court to force the company to store user data inside the country's borders, according to a law the Russian government passed in September 2015.

LinkedIn loses appeal, will be banned in Russia for the time being

The Moscow court agreed and issued a block order for LinkedIn, which would remain valid until the site moved data of approximately six million Russian users to servers inside Russia's borders.

LinkedIn appealed the ruling. The appeal was heard last week, and according to Russian press agency Interfax, the court held up the previous ban.

LinkedIn is the first company on which Russian authorities decided to enforce the country's new user privacy law, which they passed in 2015.

The initial LinkedIn block came after Russian authorities criticized US and European authorities for arresting a Russian national in the Czech Republic for "allegedly" hacking LinkedIn, Dropbox, and Formspring.

More tech giants to follow?

When it passed the 2015 user privacy law, Russia also said it would give foreign companies time to adjust to the new legislation. It appears that the grace period is over and authorities are now starting to enforce the law.

Choosing LinkedIn, a smaller social network, may have also been a warning for US tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, that Russia is firm in its decision to enforce the new law, and it should not be ignored.

Nevertheless, just like in China, Russia may be using this legislation to force US companies out of the market and make room for local companies, such as Yandex, VK, Mail.ru, Rambler, and others, who could gain a large number of new users if their foreign competitors would disappear all of a sudden.

Roskomnadzor authorities told Interfax that they plan to implement the LinkedIn ban in the following week.