LinkedIn Prompts Inquiry from Rep. Jim Banks After Banning Users at China’s Request

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Indiana Rep. Jim Banks (R) is asking LinkedIn to explain its practice of banning American users at the behest of the Chinese government, telling the company in a letter the purported censorship was “more troubling” than concerns over TikTok.

In the letter addressed to LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, Banks noted a Wall Street Journal report that the site had removed profiles belonging to numerous Americans, including at least one congressional staffer. “LinkedIn’s censorship of Americans on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party is even more troubling than TikTok and other social media sites’ censorship,” Banks wrote. “LinkedIn is a professional networking site, not a social networking site. Your users don’t join to have fun — they sign up because LinkedIn promises to help advance their careers.”

The Journal’s June report found the Microsoft-owned LinkedIn had removed profiles for reasons that included mentioning the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The company received 42 requests from China’s government in 2020 to terminate its users or take down content.The company reported complying with 38 of the requests.

The controversy came the same month that Bing — Microsoft’s search engine — blocked the “Tank Man” image captured during China’s Tiananmen crackdown, a fact Banks alluded to in his letter. “Bing is available in a censored format within China,” he wrote, adding that “Microsoft offers facial recognition software owns data centers in China.

“LinkedIn’s willingness to carry water for the Chinese regime raises questions about how Microsoft became the only American technology company with significant access to the Chinese market,” Banks added. He concluded in asking the company to address which “Chinese Communist Party speech regulations” it enforces on American users, and to say whether it had ever “handed over user data” to the Chinese government pursuant to the country’s national security laws.

The missive was dated Sept. 24, but just shared online by Banks on Tuesday. He asked the company to provide answers by Oct. 14.