- LinkedIn is being accused of sharing user data for AI training
- The lawsuit asks for $1,000 per user, among other fees
- LinkedIn Made Changes to FAQ and Privacy Policy to ‘Cover Its Tracks,’ Lawsuit Alleges
LinkedIn has been accused of sharing private messages and user data with third parties for AI training in a US lawsuit.
The Microsoft-owned careers site is increasingly looking to position itself as a standard social media platform and has introduced a number of AI tools and features for LinkedIn Premium users.
The lawsuit claims that LinkedIn “quietly” introduced new privacy settings in August 2024 that allowed users to share their data with third parties for AI training purposes.
“Covering their tracks”
The lawsuit goes on to claim that after this change in privacy settings, the company updated its privacy policy to indicate that user information could be used for AI training, and the FAQ section was also changed to indicate that users They could choose not to share their data. with third parties for AI training, but opting out would not affect data that had already been used for AI training.
“This behavior suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it had violated its contractual promises and privacy standards and sought to minimize public scrutiny,” alleges the lawsuit, which seeks $1,000 per user for violations of the U.S. federal Stored Communications Act. USA, and an unspecified amount. amount for California unfair competition law and breach of contract.
A LinkedIn spokesperson addressed the allegations, stating that “these are false claims with no merit” (Via bbcChanges to LinkedIn’s privacy policy have not been implemented for users in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, says an email sent to users last year.
In 2024, LinkedIn settled a class-action lawsuit against the platform for $6.625 million after being accused of overcharging advertisers by artificially inflating the number of video ad views received between January 2015 and May 2023.
