EXPLAINER: Why are foreign tech firms pulling out of China?

By ZEN SOO
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — Yahoo Inc. said this week that will withdraw from the China market. It said its services in China stopped from from Nov. 1 due to an “increasingly challenging” business and legal environment. The company is the latest U.S. technology firm to downsize China operations in recent weeks, as strict data privacy laws aimed at controlling how companies collect and store data take effect. Foreign online platforms have largely abandoned the Chinese market, deciding that the regulatory uncertainty and reputational risks outweigh the advantages of staying. Local alternatives have popped up over the years to fill the void left by foreign social media platforms that have given up operating under China’s “Great Firewall.”