LinkedIn facing lawsuit over accusations private messages used to train AI

Date:
Thu, 23 Jan 2025 12:33:00 +0000

Description:
Lawsuit accuses LinkedIn of sharing user data with third parties for AI training purposes without notifying users, and trying to "cover its tracks."

FULL STORY

LinkedIn has been accused of sharing private messages and user data with
third parties for AI training in a US lawsuit.

The Microsoft-owned job site has increasingly looked 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 LinkedIn quietly introduced a new privacy setting in
August 2024 which opted users into sharing their data with third parties for
AI training purposes.

"Covering its tracks"

The lawsuit goes on to state after this change to privacy settings, the
company then updated its privacy policy to state that user information could
be used for AI training, and the FAQ section was also changed to state users could choose to not have their data shared with third parties for AI
training, but opting out would not affect data that had already been used for AI training.

This behaviour suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it had violated
its contractual promises and privacy standards and aimed to minimise public scrutiny, the lawsuit alleges, which is seeking $1,000 per user for
violations against the US federal Stored Communications Act, and an
unspecified amount for California's unfair competition law and breach of contract.

A spokesperson for LinkedIn addressed the allegations, stating, these are
false claims with no merit (Via BBC ).The changes to the LinkedIn privacy policy were not enacted for users in the UK, European Economic Area, and Switzerland, an email sent to users last year says.

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 views video adverts received between January 2015 and May 2023.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/linkedin-facing-lawsuit-over-accusation s-private-messages-used-to-train-ai

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