Russia moves to block LinkedIn over violation of law on personal data storage

Russia has started cracking down on professional networking site LinkedIn, after a state watchdog found it broke a law on personal data storage.

"The social networking site LinkedIn has been added to a register of violators... and submitted for blocking by internet operators," Roskomnadzor communications watchdog said in a statement on its website.

According to televised comments of Roskomnadzor's spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky, "in the course of today a large number of internet providers should block" the site.

LinkedIn said in a statement sent to AFP that it was "starting to hear from members in Russia that they can no longer access LinkedIn".

With the news, the hashtag LinkedIn topped the trends on Twitter in Russia.

"Roskomnadzor's action to block LinkedIn denies access to the millions of members we have in Russia," the US-based company said.

"We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localisation request."

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Thursday that the blockage was "in strict accordance with the law" and the Kremlin would not interfere.

The US-based company was acquired by Microsoft for $26 billion in June in the biggest ever deal for a social media company.
 
"The United States is deeply concerned by Russia's decision to block access to the website LinkedIn," US Embassy spokeswoman Maria Olson said,  Reuters reported. She added, the rule for harmed competition and the Russian people, and said the US would  like to see Russia restore LinkedIn access immediately.

"This decision is the first of its kind and sets a troubling precedent that could be used to justify shutting down any website that contains Russian user data," Olson said.

According to some analysts, the rule might expand to other foreign sites in Russia, such as Facebook and Twitter if they did not host data on Russia-based servers, according to Reuters.