"LinkedIn" sued: illegally shared user data
LinkedIn, the most popular professional social network, has been sued for sharing without consent the information of its premium users to train artificial intelligence (AI) models.
January 28, 2025 14:08
At least two laws have been broken
The lawsuit, filed on 21 January, alleges that the platform secretly shared premium subscribers' InMail messages with third-party companies in order to train IoT models. By doing so, LinkedIn violated the US Stored Communications Act (SCA).
In addition, LinkedIn is accused of unlawful business practices under the California Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The plaintiff seeks, among other claims, statutory damages of USD 1 000 per person under the SCA.
The setting was installed without informing users
"Premium users have access to certain features and services that free users do not. One such feature is InMail messages, which allow users to contact other users without being tracked.
Initially, the Premium User Agreement did not explicitly state that LinkedIn could share user messages with third parties for training IoT models.
However, without informing users, the platform introduced a setting that automatically shared such messages. Only users who became aware of this on their own and disabled this setting were able to protect their data. This is a direct breach of privacy.
The claimant also argued that the platform subsequently updated its privacy policy to legitimise the collection of data and added a clause stating that information already used for IoT training could not be removed.
This is also in breach of LinkedIn's policy, which states that users will be duly informed of changes and will have the opportunity to object to them before they take effect.
In addition to monetary compensation, the lawsuit also seeks an injunction ordering the deletion of all IoT models that have been trained using illegally disclosed data.
Concerns about data privacy
Concerns about data privacy have never been higher. Especially with the emergence and widespread use of IoT.
"The LinkedIn incident raises questions about other Microsoft services and platforms as well, but it goes beyond that.
More recently, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined General Motors. The company illegally shared its customers' driving data with third parties without prior consent or knowledge of the users.
In addition to monetary compensation, the lawsuit also seeks an injunction ordering the deletion of all IoT models that have been trained using illegally disclosed data.
Concerns about data privacy
Concerns about data privacy have never been higher. Especially with the emergence and widespread use of IoT.
"The LinkedIn incident raises questions about other Microsoft services and platforms as well, but it goes beyond that.
More recently, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fined General Motors. The company illegally shared its customers' driving data with third parties without prior consent or knowledge of the users.
