"In recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment in China, Yahoo’s suite of services will no longer be accessible from mainland China as of November 1," a Yahoo spokesperson said as quoted by The Wall Street Journal.
Yahoo is the second US technology firm to downsize operations there in less than a month following the closure of Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn social-networking site. In mid-October Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn said it was leaving China due to the country's tougher censorship regulations.
The Yahoo pullout comes on the very same day as the implementation of China’s Personal Information Protection Law, which curbs data collection by technology companies.
According to The Wall Street Journal report, operationally, Yahoo’s China departure was largely symbolic, as the company had already begun shutting down its main services such as email, news and community services in China starting in 2013.
Notwithstanding that, the report added, the exit was a reminder of the increasing challenges foreign companies faced in China from tighter data security and privacy regulations, geopolitical tensions, and tough Covid-19-related rules.