Redfaced Redmond is close to admitting that it stole code to run its Chinese microblogging site.

Microsoft said that is suspending access to the site amid allegations the service is based on code swiped from a rival. The code that ran the site was written by a Canadian start-up Plurk. Plurk found that 80 per cent of the code for Juku appeared to be lifted directly from its service.

Microsoft has not admitted that it nicked the code but said it is “investigating the matter”. However just to be on the safe side it is pulling down the Juku feature while it looks into things. Redmond said that the code was developed by a third party vendor for its MSN China joint venture. The code was in beta.

It would be unusual for Microsoft to pull such code unless it thought Plurk's complaints had some truth in them. It is not clear who the third party who “wrote the code” for Microsoft is. Chinese software developers have been known to take foreign code and work it into their own.