Tech giant Microsoft said that it plans to shut down career-oriented social network LinkedIn in China. Microsoft has come to a decision to close down its operations in China as Beijing has tightened its control over technology firms and now the situation is not so work friendly there.

The US-based company will replace LinkedIn in China with an application dedicated to applying for jobs but without the networking features, according to senior vice president of engineering Mohak Shroff.

"We're... facing a significantly more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China," Shroff said in a blog post.

According to the Wall Street Journal, LinkedIn was given a deadline by Chinese internet regulators to better oversee content on the site.

LinkedIn, which launched in China in 2014, lets people use personal and professional relationships to find job opportunities.

Chinese authorities have been targeting a range of homegrown tech behemoths for alleged monopolistic practices and aggressive harvesting of consumer data.

The drive is part of a wider policy by the government to tighten its grip on the world's number two economy, including targeting private education, property and casinos.

Microsoft will close down the China version of LinkedIn and launch an InJobs application dedicated to connected professionals in that country with companies seeking employees, according to Shroff.

Microsoft bought LinkedIn for slightly more than $26 billion way back in 2016, and has worked hard to build a major presence in China despite concerns about online censorship.

Many other social media companies like Facebook and Twitter have been banned in China for more than a decade and also search engine Google left the country years back.

E-commerce giant Amazon is still available and accessible in China, but dominated by local players such as Alibaba and JD.com.

Recently, LinkedIn blacklisted several journalist accounts, including those of Melissa Chan and Greg Bruno, from its China-based website. It's hard to pinpoint whether LinkedIn's move was driven by the pressure from China, or that from the US. LinkedIn has drawn growing criticism in America for bowing to Beijing's censorship rules.