Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications, also known as Roskomnadzor, announced on Thursday that it had banned LinkedIn and instructed Russian telecommunications operators to block the website, TASS reported.

"Based on the court’s ruling that entered into force, the LinkedIn social network has been included in the registry of those violating the rights of personal data owners and is to be blocked by telecommunications operators," Roskomnadzor announced in a statement.

A Moscow City Court rejected LinkedIn’s appeal last week, explaining that the website violates Russia’s law on personal data localization, according to which the personal data of Russian citizens cannot be processed and stored in a foreign country.

LinkedIn has over 6 million registered users in Russia. Telecommunications companies have stated that the website will be blocked within 24 hours.

  Russia

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