Yahoo pulls out of China

Yahoo Inc said it was pulling out of China, citing an increasingly challenging business and legal environment, the latest foreign company to be caught up in Beijing's toughening rules for businesses.

The tech company said that had ceased to offer its services from 1 November, becoming the second well-known US technology firm to downsize China operations in less than a month following the closure of Microsoft Corp.'s LinkedIn social-networking site, reports the Wall Street Journal. 

The withdrawal was largely symbolic, as many of the company's services were already blocked by China's digital censorship. But recent government moves to expand its control over tech companies generally, including its domestic giants, may have tipped the scales for Yahoo.

"In recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment in China, Yahoo's suite of services will no longer be accessible from mainland China as of November 1," the company said in a statement.

It said it "remains committed to the rights of our users and a free and open internet."

The company's move comes as the American and Chinese governments feud over technology and trade. The US has put restrictions on telecom giant Huawei and other Chinese tech companies, alleging that they have ties with China's government, military or both. China says the US is unfairly suppressing competition and trying to block China's technological rise.

Yahoo is the latest foreign tech company to exit China. Google gave up several years ago, and Microsoft's professional networking platform LinkedIn said last month it would shutter its Chinese site, replacing it with a jobs board instead.

The company's departure coincided with the implementation of China's Personal Information Protection Law, which limits what information companies can gather and sets standards for how it must be stored.