Yahoo! pulls out of China for good, cites ‘Challenging’ environment

As it becomes more challenging for tech companies to operate in China, Big tech companies continue to exit China. The latest in this trend is Yahoo which announced on Tuesday that it would pull its services from China. Yahoos’ services will no longer be accessible from mainland China from November 1.

A Yahoo spokesman said in a statement that this decision came “in recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment.” He also said, “Yahoo remains committed to the rights of our users and free and open internet. We thank our users for their support.”

Yahoo! quits China

Yahoo was the latest of the many tech companies leaving China. Just last month, Microsoft’s LinkedIn pulled its operations officially from mainland China. It also blamed the Chinese government’s new restrictions and challenging operating environment. And Google seized its operation in China several years ago.

Operating in China has always been difficult for tech companies, But the latest five-year plan would make it even harder for companies to operate. It would implement new regulations, limiting what information companies can gather and setting standards for how it must be stored.

Companies need to comply with Chinese rules

Chinese law also forces companies operating in mainland China to hand over user information to the government and law enforcers. And companies who comply with this rule face harsh criticism and legal complications back home. Back in 2007, yahoo faced big problems for handing out data to the Chinese government, which led to the imprisonment of two Chinese nationals.

Meanwhile, the feud between USA and China over technological trades continues. The USA previously blocked Huawei and a few other Chinese tech companies alleging they spied for the Chinese government. This might even make it harder for US tech giants to operate in China.

Yahoo has been operating in China for more than two decades. It first entered China in 1988 then struck a deal with Alibaba in 2012, giving Alibaba to operate Yahoo China under the name Yahoo. Yahoo later shut its mail service and web portal in 2015 and finally pulled out its full service in 2021.