US internet services company Yahoo has pulled out of China amid an "increasingly challenging business and legal environment," it said on Tuesday.
- 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 - Yahoo said in a statement.
- Yahoo remains committed to the rights of our users and a free and open internet. We thank our users for their support - it added.
The move comes as gaming giant Epic Games said it is shutting down its popular battle-royale game Fortnite by Nov. 15. In China, the game's beta version was known as Fortress Night and operated by Tencent Games, a major investor in Epic.
In August, China restricted online gaming for children under the age of 18 to three hours a week – only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Last month, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn said it will end operations in China due to "greater compliance requirements."
While Google left in 2010, Facebook and Twitter have been blocked for more than a decade.