Yahoo blames 'challenging business and legal environment' for China exit

Yahoo stopped providing content for users in mainland China as of Nov. 1 due to the "increasingly challenging business and legal environment,” and directed users of Yahoo and AOL mail to other links.

Chinese media reported Yahoo’s move on Tuesday.

China imposed new curbs on internet companies from content to customer privacy, as its Personal Information Protection law designed to protect online user data privacy took effect Monday.

Yahoo is the second Western technology brand, after Microsoft Corp's LinkedIn, to quit China in recent weeks.

Microsoft Corp. pulled the plug on LinkedIn in China last month citing a “more challenging operating environment and greater compliance requirements in China.”

Fortnite creator Epic Games also said it would shut down its servers for China from Nov. 15. On Monday, it stopped new user registrations for Chinese users.

China introduced new rules in August that limit the number of hours under-18s can spend on video games to three a week.

Fortnite caters to tens of millions of young players in China.