…Facebook…has quietly developed software to suppress posts from appearing in people’s news feeds in specific geographic areas, according to three current and former Facebook employees…The feature was created to help Facebook get into China, a market where the social network has been blocked…Mr. Zuckerberg has supported and defended the effort, the people added.

Facebook has restricted content in other countries before, such as Pakistan, Russia and Turkey, in keeping with the typical practice of...generally comply[ing] with government requests to block certain content…Facebook does not intend to suppress the posts itself. Instead, it would offer the software to enable a third party —…most likely a partner Chinese company…Facebook’s partner would then have full control to decide whether those posts should show up in users’ feeds.

The current and former Facebook employees caution that the software is one of many ideas the company has discussed with respect to entering China and…may never see the light of day…and there is no indication that Facebook has offered it to the authorities in China.

…A Facebook spokeswoman said in a statement, “We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country.” She added that the company had made no decisions on its approach into China…

[mentions Google, LinkedIn, Twitter & Uber]