Facebook Inc. (FB) - Get Report hired William Shuai, formerly of LinkedIn Corp.'s China operations, for a new position at the company as it looks to regain access to China, which has cracked down on internet access. 

Shuai worked on government relations for LinkedIn, which was one of the few tech companies to acquiesce to China's strict internet censorship rules. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said that China is a key to the company's growth. The social networking site has been banned in China since 2009. 

Before joining LinkedIn in 2014, Shuai managed government relations at Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc. (BIDU) - Get Report . 

Facebook shares were down 0.34% premarket Friday. 

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