LinkedIn's terms of use claim that LinkedIn owns all the content posted on it. Additionally, it says that users must only post accurate information and have a duty to keep their information up to date. This duty to keep the information up to date survives even account termination. Max Kennerly, LinkedIn's Terms of Use: We Own All Content, Ex-Users Agree To Update Our Database Forever, Litigation & Trial (Apr. 1, 2009), https://www.litigationandtrial.com/2009/04/articles/the-business-of-law/the-long-view/linkedins-terms-of-use-we-own-all-content-ex-users-agree-to-update-our-database-forever/.
Russian hackers stole over 6 million account credentials from LinkedIn. Years later, the actual number will become known, which is over 117 million affected accounts. David Goldman, More than 6 million LinkedIn passwords stolen, CNN (Jun. 7, 2012), https://money.cnn.com/2012/06/06/technology/linkedin-password-hack/index.htm.
LinkedIn sues an anonymous company for using bots to scrape users' profiles. The purpose of this scraping was so that the company could set up a competing service to LinkedIn. In March, LinkedIn would name the anonymous company as HiringSolved. Jeff Roberts, LinkedIn names company that used bots to steal profiles for competing Recruiter service, GigaOm (Apr. 1, 2014), https://gigaom.com/2014/04/01/linkedin-names-company-that-used-bots-to-steal-profiles-for-competing-recruiter-service/.
LinkedIn uses your email account to invite new members to its site. In addition, it uses your email account to remind potential new members to join the site, even after the initial invite. Users whose email accounts are being used believe this might make them appear needy, and that it could injure their reputation. Sarah Silbert, LinkedIn to face lawsuit for sending repeat invitations to your contacts, engadget (Jun. 13, 2014),https://www.engadget.com/2014-06-13-linkedin-lawsuit-email-contacts.html.
The class action lawsuit aimed at LinkedIn due to the 2012 data breach settles for $1.25 million. Wendy Davis, LinkedIn Data-Breach Settlement Gains Approval, MediaPost (Sep. 21, 2015), https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/258699/linkedin-data-breach-settlement-gains-approval.html.
Dell discovered a ring of fake LinkedIn accounts based out of Iran. The fake profiles were used to spy on individuals from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan. Most of their connections worked in government, defense, or telecom. Tal Kopan, Report: Iran-based hackers spy using fake Linkedin profiles, CNN (Oct. 7, 2015), https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/07/politics/iran-hackers-linkedin/index.html.
In one of its standard newsletters, LinkedIn included a photo of the wrong person under the headline "Trump put white nationalist on list of delegates." The attached photo was of a man with the same name, but the wrong man nonetheless. It took 5 days to respond to the man's complaint, offering to correct the story to the man's contacts. Will Johnson, LinkedIn Called Me a White Supremacist, Slate (May 24, 2016), https://slate.com/technology/2016/05/linkedin-called-me-a-white-supremacist.html.
The 2012 data breach was initially estimated to impact 6.5 million people. However, it was discovered that hackers were selling 117 million account credentials, making the scope of the 2012 breach much larger than initially thought. Jose Pagliery, Hackers selling 117 million LinkedIn passwords, CNN (May 19, 2016), https://money.cnn.com/2016/05/19/technology/linkedin-hack/.
LinkedIn sued 100 anonymous data scrapers for using bots to scrape user profiles. LinkedIn alleges this is a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Kate Conger, LinkedIn sues anonymous data scrapers, TechCrunch (Aug. 15, 2016), https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/15/linkedin-sues-scrapers/.
A study conducted by Preempt found that 65% of leaked LinkedIn passwords could be easily cracked with brute force using off-the-shelf cracking hardware. In addition, 35% of LinkedIn passwords were already known from other password dictionaries. Tara Seals, LinkedIn Breach: Weak Passwords Are the Norm, Info Security Magazine (Mar. 13, 2017), https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/linkedin-breach-weak-passwords/.
LinkedIn's new privacy policy expands LinkedIn's ability to share user information with "certain third-party services." Darrell Etheringon, LinkedIn's updated privacy policy covers wider profile sharing, TechCrunch (Apr. 18, 2017), https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/18/linkedins-updated-privacy-policy-covers-wider-profile-sharing/.
hiQ prevails over LinkedIn as the district court judge granted their preliminary injunction. LinkedIn must allow them the ability to scrape public data from LinkedIn's site. Tom Warren, Microsoft ordered to let third parties scrape LinkedIn data, The Verge (Aug. 15, 2017), https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16148250/microsoft-linkedin-third-party-data-access-judge-ruling.
In an effort to fight white supremacy on its site, LinkedIn bans a page for the Daily Stormer as well as the profile of Andrew Aurenheimer, a man linked to the Daily Stormer. David Ingram and Joseph Menn, Internet firms shift stance, move to exile white supremacists, Reuters (Aug. 16, 2017), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-virginia-protests-tech/internet-firms-shift-stance-move-to-exile-white-supremacists-idUSKCN1AW2L5.
Hacked LinkedIn accounts sent out private messages to a users' contact lists including a link to a phishing scam. The phishing links were also sent out through email. Jerome Segura, Compromised LinkedIn accounts used to send phishing links via private message and InMail, Malwarebytes (Sep. 12, 2017), https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-analysis/2017/09/compromised-linkedin-accounts-used-to-send-phishing-links-via-private-message-and-inmail/.
LinkedIn acquired the email addresses of 18 million people who were not already members of the site. In a bid to have them join LinkedIn, they bought targeted ads on Facebook using these email addresses. This move likely violated the GDPR. Ingrid Lunden, LinkedIn violated data protection by using 18M email addresses of non-members to buy targeted ads on Facebook, TechCrunch (Nov. 24, 2018), https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/24/linkedin-ireland-data-protection/.
It is discovered that LinkedIn's co-founder Reid Hoffman funded fake news in Alabama's 2017 Senate race. The goal of the fake news was to help the Democratic candidate beat the Republican candidate. Hoffman claims he was unaware of the misinformation and that it was not the intent of his funding. Matt Binder, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman accidentally funded fake news, Mashable (Dec. 27, 2018), https://mashable.com/article/linkedin-reid-hoffman-new-knowledge-fake-news-alabama/.
2.2 billion accounts were found in a data dump on the dark web. Among them were 170 million LinkedIn accounts. It is likely these accounts were breached in 2012, but now aggregated. Scott Ikeda, The Data Dump of 2.2 Billion Breached Accounts: What You Need to Know, CPO Magazine (Feb. 9, 2019), https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/the-data-dump-of-2-2-billion-breached-accounts-what-you-need-to-know.
From January to June of 2019, LinkedIn removed 21.6 million fake accounts from its site, a report by LinkedIn shows. Nat Levy, LinkedIn blocked 21.6M fake accounts in first half of year, as scrutiny of social media giant grows, GeekWire (Aug. 20, 2019), https://www.geekwire.com/2019/linkedin-blocked-21-6m-fake-accounts-first-half-year-scrutiny-social-media-giants-grows/.
LinkedIn is the only major American social media site not blocked in China. As such, China has been using LinkedIn to recruit spies. Using LinkedIn, China can see the backgrounds of a large number of individuals, including those who recently left high ranking government positions. Yen Nee Lee, China is reportedly using LinkedIn to recruit spies overseas, CNBC (Aug. 28, 2019),https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/28/china-is-reportedly-using-linkedin-to-recruit-spies-overseas.html.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that hiQ's scraping of LinkedIn's data was permissible, and importantly, that it does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Camille Fischer and Andrew Crocker, Victory! Ruling in hiQ v. LinkedIn Protects Scraping of Public Data, Electronic Frontier Foundaiton (Sep. 10, 2019), https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/09/victory-ruling-hiq-v-linkedin-protects-scraping-public-data.
LinkedIn sent Clearview AI a cease and desist letter for their scraping on LinkedIn. Clearview AI responded by claiming a first amendment right to scrape publicly available information. Kaixin Fan, Clearview AI Responds to Cease-and-Desist Letters by Claiming First Amendment Right to Publicly Available Data, Jolt Digest (Feb. 25, 2020),https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/clearview-ai-responds-to-cease-and-desist-letters-by-claiming-first-amendment-right-to-publicly-available-data.
In the ongoing case against hiQ, LinkedIn files a petition to the Supreme Court hoping to find a favorable outcome there. Wendy Davis, LinkedIn Asks Supreme Court To Intervene In Battle Over Scraping, MediaPost (Mar. 9, 2020), https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/348216/linkedin-asks-supreme-court-to-intervene-in-battle.html.
Facebook, Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube issued a joint statement on Coronavirus misinformation. "We are working closely together on COVID-19 response efforts. We're helping millions of people stay connected while also jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world. We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe." Catherine Shu and Jonathan Shieber, Facebook, Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube issue joint statement on misinformation, TechCrunch (Mar. 16, 2020), https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/16/facebook-reddit-google-linkedin-microsoft-twitter-and-youtube-issue-joint-statement-on-misinformation/.
LinkedIn has a growing problem with people claiming to work where they don't. These accounts are generally fake. LinkedIn, in its own defense, points out that it shut down 21.6 million accounts last year, 19.5 million of which were fake, 95% of which were prevented from being created at registration. Dan Raywood, CEO Claims More Fake LinkedIn Users Are Claiming to be Employees, Info Security Magazine (Mar. 23, 2020), https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/ceo-fake-linkedin.
A feature on Zoom would automatically match users' names and email addresses to their LinkedIn profiles. This would occur even if they were not using their real name on Zoom. If someone else in the call was subscribed to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, they would then gain access to the LinkedIn profiles of everyone else in the call by clicking in icon next to their name. Zoom agreed to disable the feature after it gained media coverage. Monica Chin, Zoom has disabled a feature that was exposing users' LinkkedIn profiles, The Verge (Apri. 2, 2020),https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/2/21205853/zoom-linkedin-feature-disabled-privacy-security-video-calling.
LinkedIn's new CEO Ryan Roslansky held a town hall meeting to discuss diversifying the workplace. Unbeknownst to him at the time, anonymous employees were flooding the chat with racism. He would later apologize after discovering the remarks. Ashley Stewart, LinkedIn CEO apologizes after an internal meeting about racial inequality and bias was hit with 'appalling' comments from anonymous employees, Business Insider (June 4, 2020), https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-ceo-apologizes-for-allowing-appalling-employee-comments-2020-6.
A story breaks about Coca Cola requiring employees to take a LinkedIn-based training program on diversity that encouraged employees to "try to be less white." LinkedIn quickly removed the licensed program from its course library. Paul Bond, After Coca-Cola Backlash, LinkedIn Removes Diversity Lesson Telling Employees to "Be Less White", Newsweek (Feb. 23, 2021), https://www.newsweek.com/linkedin-removes-diversity-lesson-less-white-1571205.
500 million LinkedIn users have their personal data breached. The information includes LinkedIn IDs, full names, email addresses, phone numbers, genders, profile URLs, links to their other social media profiles, and work related data. LinkedIn acknowledges some of the information came from their service, but claims some of it came from elsewhere. Ben Lovejoy, Another 500M accounts scraped: This time LinkedIn and other services,9to5Mac (Apr. 9, 2021), https://9to5mac.com/2021/04/09/500m-accounts-scraped-linkedin/.
The Supreme Court vacated the 9th Circuit's opinion in the case of LinkedIn v. hiQ, and remanded the case to the 9th Circuit for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Van Buren v. United States. Supreme Court Vacates LinkedIn-HiQ Scraping Decision, Remands to Ninth Circuit for Another Look, National Law Review (June 16, 2021), https://www.natlawreview.com/article/supreme-court-vacates-linkedin-hiq-scraping-decision-remands-to-ninth-circuit.
700 million of LinkedIn's 756 million users (92%) have their data breached. The information discovered for sale on the dark web includes phone numbers, physical addresses, geolocation data, and inferred salaries. Ben Lovejoy, LinkedIn breach reportedly exposes data of 92% of users, including inferred salaries [U], 9to5Mac (June 29, 2021), https://9to5mac.com/2021/06/29/linkedin-breach/?.
LinkedIn begins notifying scholars that their accounts are blocked in China. One graduate student speculates his ban may be because one of his listed projects includes the phrase "Tiananmen Square massacre." Liza Lin, Scholars on LinkedIn Are Being Blocked in China 'Without Telling Them Why', The Wall Street Journal (June 25, 2021), https://www.wsj.com/articles/academics-bristle-over-linkedin-blocking-their-profiles-in-china-11624366667.
Following the censorship controversy, LinkedIn has decided to shut down in China. Instead, it will be launched a new job boards call called "InJobs" for the Chinese market. The new app will not have a social feed or the ability to share posts or articles. Sara Fischer, LinkedIn to shut down app in China following censorship controversy, Axios (Oct. 14, 2021), https://www.axios.com/linkedin-china-new-app-censorship-controversy-9218df4d-3119-45b0-9516-ac8a65512bbc.html.
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