LinkedIn website working again in China

NEW YORK, USA: Access to the networking site LinkedIn has been restored in China, a day after it was blocked following calls for Middle East-inspired protests in the country.

A spokesman for LinkedIn based in the United States said: "We are seeing indications that access to the LinkedIn service is being restored in China. We will continue to monitor the situation."

On Thursday, Web users in China were not able to visit the social networking website. While it was unclear whether the site was blocked due to government censorship, the disruption followed detentions in China after an overseas Chinese website, Boxun, spread a call for demonstrations to protest to the Communist party for democratic change.

LinkedIn, with its relatively small user base of adult professionals, has been accessible in China through the local Internet service, unlike Facebook and other social websites with a much larger number of users. It recently surpassed 1 million users in China.

LinkedIn has been planning for an initial public offering in the United States and is preparing to raise up to $175 million.