Russia’s telecommunications agency has officially ordered Internet providers to block the professional-networking website LinkedIn.
The November 17 order makes LinkedIn one of the largest and best-known websites to be hit by a 2-year-old law requiring tech companies to store personal data of Russian citizens on servers located within Russia.
The agency, known as Roskomnadzor, said it was implementing a court decision that found the website did not conform to the law.
On November 10, a Moscow court rejected LinkedIn’s appeal against that ruling.
A Roskomnadzor spokesman told Interfax that LinkedIn has asked for a meeting with officials to discuss the matter.
The Russian law on data storage was part of a package of surveillance legislation signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in 2014.
A LinkedIn spokeswoman said the company was already hearing complaints from Russian users about not being able to access the site.
"Roskomnadzor's action to block LinkedIn denies access to the millions of members we have in Russia and the companies that use LinkedIn to grow their businesses," the spokeswoman was quoted by Reuters as saying.
