Evernote, LinkedIn, and Uber are succeeding in China by playing by the government's rules
A new wave of US internet companies is succeeding in China—by giving the government what it wants — Facebook found itself shut out from China in 2009. Twitter got blocked the same year.
Context & Ripple Effects
When Evernote, LinkedIn and Uber chose compliance over confrontation, they looked like proof of a new entry model: after Facebook and Twitter were both shut out of China in 2009, the next wave of US internet companies traded censorship cooperation and data localization for market access. The bet was that playing by the government's rules was the price of admission.
Later coverage inverted that thesis. Reporting on the Great Firewall's ecosystem argued that Chinese firms had grown so strong behind the barrier that US companies struggled at home and abroad simultaneously (the firewall's dual squeeze on Chinese champions), and that by late 2016 compliance no longer mattered — local rivals made success nearly impossible for US tech giants regardless of how closely they followed government rules (local firms as the real moat).
First-order effects
- Evernote, LinkedIn and Uber gain the market access Facebook and Twitter lost in 2009, but pay for it by accepting government rules on content and data as a condition of operating.
Second-order effects
- Chinese competitors operating inside the Great Firewall face less foreign pressure at home, letting them consolidate their domestic position before competing abroad — while other US platforms weighing China entry see that the compliant path exists yet may not be sufficient.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, market access becomes a bargain regulators set unilaterally: compliance buys entry but not victory, and the durable barrier shifts from government blocking to locally grown incumbents — pushing US firms toward partnerships, minority stakes, or staying out entirely.
The trend: US internet companies' China strategy is moving from 'comply to enter' toward accepting that the Great Firewall's homegrown champions, not government rules, are the decisive obstacle.