MySpace.com, the internet's leading social networking site, is inching closer to its goal of setting up a Chinese operation.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns MySpace.com, is talking with the Chinese venture arm of US trade publisher IDG about establishing a Chinese version of MySpace.com, which gets 80m visitors a month in the west.
Back in September, Murdoch said that his Chinese-born wife, Wendi Deng had been sounding out Chinese officials about launching MySpace in China.
The WSJ story does not add much new information beyond the possible involvement of IDG Technology Venture Investment, the VC arm of IDG that has invested in some of China's top start-ups, such as Baidu.com.
Unlike in the west, where Google sets the pace, Baidu is the site that MySpace fears most in China. Baidu is China's most visited website and recently launched something called Baidu Space -- which presumably explains why Murdoch is so keen to get the ball rolling on MySpace China.
But we are left none the wiser as as to how Murdoch hopes to regulate or police the user-generated content on a putative Chinese version of MySpace without being accused of the dreaded "C" word -- censorship.
Even in the west, the "anything goes" spirit of MySpace.com has created much controversy, so its difficult to see Chinese authorities welcoming the site with open arms. See this EngagingChina story for the background.
