Facebook opens a unit in China

Facebook created a unit in China with a registered capital of 30 million USD, which suggests that the US company is strengthening its presence in a market where social networks remain blocked. The unit is registered in Hangzhou, home of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, according to documents approved by Chinese authorities last week.

"We are interested in creating an innovative center to support Chinese developers, innovators and startups", said a Facebook representative.

The Facebook website is still blocked in China. The country strictly censors foreign media, search engines and social networks, including Twitter and Google.

"The creation of a Chinese unit does not change the Facebook approach in the country", says the company, adding that it is still learning different approaches to operating in the Asian country.

Last year, the Facebook chat application, WhatsApp, was also blocked by the authorities and has not been active since then.

Although censorship has increased during the governance of Xi Jinping, who was elected for president in 2013, the US technology companies whose content is blocked in the country are looking for more and more new ways to enter the market without seriously confronting regulators.

Google has several hundred employees in China and has recently created its own artificial intelligence lab in the country. In addition, it has created several applications for the Chinese market in recent months.

Apple has also seriously changed its app store to be able to overcome Chinese restrictions in the past year by removing hundreds of applications at the regulators' request.

Facebook said its Chinese unit will focus on trainings that will help software developers and entrepreneurs. The company has similar centers in many countries, including France, Brazil, India and South Korea.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://financeandmarkets.com/facebook-opens-a-unit-in-china/

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