Russia tries to kick out LinkedIn

LinkedIn could soon be blocked in Russia, a Russian court threatened on Thursday.

If LinkedIn loses a battle over violations of a Russian law governing personal data, the nation's communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, could block the professional networking site. Russia's personal data law requires companies to keep Russians' personal data within the country, a difficult requirement to uphold for most foreign companies and social networks.

‘’LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for the entire global workforce. The Russian court's decision has the potential to deny access to LinkedIn for the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses," a LinkedIn spokesperson said. "We remain interested in a meeting with Roskomnadzor to discuss their data localization request."

Russia says LinkedIn has to store information about Russian users on servers within the country. The government also objects to LinkedIn's processing of information about third parties not registered on the site.

Russia's personal data law took effect in September 2015 and LinkedIn is the first foreign company to clash with the communications regulator over its rules.

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened a few weeks ago to rid all government offices and state-controlled companies of Microsoft software. Microsoft is in the process of buying LinkedIn.