Net gains

Mr Tipson told the Athens conference: "We have to decide if the persecuting of bloggers reaches a point that it's unacceptable to do business there."

The Internet Governance Forum is a UN-backed body that aims to be a global talking shop for thorny net issues. The four-day conference brought together more than 1500 delegates to talk about net policy and how governments, companies and citizens are affected by it.

One topic on the conference agenda was human rights and the ways that some nations, such as China, restrict access to the net or monitor what people do online.

Following Mr Tipson's comments, Microsoft issued a statement which said: "Microsoft is not considering the suspension of the company's internet services in China."

It continued: "On the contrary, it is committed to continuing to offer services and communications tools in China as it believes it is better for customers that Microsoft is present in global markets with these tools and services as this can not only promote greater communication, but can also help to foster economic opportunity and social collaboration."