Report: Russia hopes to see LinkedIn back after Microsoft’s deal

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (PRIME) -- Director of the Russian communications service Alexander Zharov hopes Microsoft will take measures to resume operations of its recently-acquired professional social network LinkedIn, which was blocked in November, according to an interview with the official, released Monday on the NTV channel’s Web site.

LinkedIn told the service earlier in December that they will “analyze whether to follow the law or not,” Zharov said.

“I think the reason behind such a position is rather simple: they’re at a stage of being sold to Microsoft. I hope that as soon as the deal is closed, Microsoft will act to make the social network come back. If not, it means no, and our resources will work. I ultimately think that every country should protect primarily its businesses, and in this regard national protectionism is quite suitable.”

The closure of LinkedIn in the country is not a test of blocking other networks, the official said.

“There’s a conspiracy theory that LinkedIn is the first and is used by the service to practice its methods to deal with other serious social networks later. In reality, the reason was different. We’ve noticed that it was from LinkedIn that the bulk of personal data leakages occurred,” Zharov said.

The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media added LinkedIn to the register of forbidden information on November 17 and asked connection operators to block it, the first case of muting one of the biggest social networks in the country.

The service said LinkedIn had broken the law obliging Internet companies to store personal data of citizens on the country’s territory. Two courts sided with the authority.

End