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
Facebook and Twitter were shut out of China in 2009, leaving the field to a new wave of US entrants willing to trade something for access: Evernote, LinkedIn, and Uber each accepted government oversight as the price of operating there.
The bet looked reasonable in mid-2015, but follow-on reporting reframed it — coverage of the Great Firewall ecosystem argues Chinese firms grew so strong behind the barrier that US companies now struggle at home and abroad simultaneously (New York Times, 2016), and later analysis concludes compliance alone can no longer buy success against entrenched local champions (Washington Post, 2016).
First-order effects
- Evernote, LinkedIn, and Uber gain market entry their blocked predecessors never got, but accept content and data rules that constrain how they operate in China.
- Facebook and Twitter remain locked out, having refused the terms the newer wave agreed to.
Second-order effects
- Chinese competitors shielded by the Firewall face less pressure from Western platforms inside China while building scale they can carry into overseas markets.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, regulatory compliance stops being a sufficient condition for foreign tech success in China: the Firewall has incubated local incumbents strong enough that even rule-abiding entrants lose, pushing US firms toward a two-track posture of serving China from outside rather than operating within it.
The trend: Market access in China is shifting from a compliance-for-entry bargain toward structurally favoring homegrown platforms, regardless of how far foreign firms go to play by the rules.