Russia's communications regulatory agency Roskomnadzor has blocked the professional social networking service LinkedIn in the country. The agency said that the reason behind this is that LinkedIn was not able to move its personal data storage into Russia, a major requirement for any Internet service operating in the country.

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In a statement, Roskomnadzor spokesman said, "The access will be shut within days. LinkedIn failed to provide documents on moving personal databases to Russia."

Russia imposed a new rule last year making it mandatory for foreign Internet companies and services to store their Russian clients' personal data on servers or data centers that are physically located in the country.

Since the ruling was imposed, most Internet companies have quietly complied with the requirement. Social networking giants like Facebook and Twitter have obeyed Russia's ruling. It appears that LinkedIn is the first company to fail to follow the ruling.

Roskomnadzor claims that LinkedIn has more than 2.6 million users in Russia. The Russian agency stated that the reason for moving personal data into its borders is for localization purposes. However, some Internet activists and campaigners have been open about the possible use of this data for surveillance purposes, according to The Independent.

Roskomnadzor claims that major Internet firms have complied, or are in the processing of complying with the rule. The agency said that it has checked at least 1,500 Internet firms and services to make sure that they abide by the law.

In 2015, popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia was temporarily blocked in Russia. The ban was lifted shortly after an article about cannabis was edited to suit Russian censors.

TagsRussia, Internet, roskomnadzor, internet censor, censorship, LinkedIn