Facebook Gets Its Foot In The Door In China

Facebook is one of the many services that’s blocked in China. One of the world’s largest countries is off limits to the world’s largest social network. Facebook remains banned in the country but the company has been able to get its foot in the door in China by launching a subsidiary down in the People’s Republic.

Facebook has obtained a license to open an office in China. The office will house a $30 million subsidiary called Facebook Technology (Hangzhou), which as the name suggests is located in the city of Hangzhou, where the headquarters of Alibaba is also located.

Don’t expect China to ease restrictions on Facebook just because it has opened up a $30 million subsidiary. The purpose of this subsidiary is “to support Chinese developers, innovators and start-ups,” according to Facebook.

It’s essentially running a startup incubator in the country through which it will make small investments into promising startups and also provide advice to local businesses. This isn’t the first startup hub of this kind that Facebook has launched. It already has similar hubs in other markets such as India, South Korea, France, and Brazil.

The subsidiary is wholly owned by Facebook Hong Kong Limited. The social network’s Hong Kong office isn’t subject to the same restrictions as it is on the mainland.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Facebook