Russia to block LinkedIn after court ruling

Business-focused social network LinkedIn faces being blocked in Russia, after a court ruled it broke a law on data storage.

Moscow city court spokeswoman Ulyana Solopova said that the court rejected an appeal by LinkedIn against a district court's decision that the company had violated a law that requires personal data on citizens to be stored on servers within Russia.

Solopova said LinkedIn can appeal Thursday's ruling. The case was brought by Roskomnadzor, the Russian state telecommunications and media regulator. LinkedIn's site was still accessible on Moscow internet connections as of Thursday afternoon, though Roskomnadzor representative Vadim Ampelonsky said that it would be blocked as soon as the agency received the full text of the court's ruling, likely next week.