LinkedIn facing lawsuit over accusations private messages used to train AI

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James Thompson

Sat, 25 Jan

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In a recent US lawsuit, LinkedIn is facing allegations of sharing user data, including private messages, with third parties for AI training purposes. The lawsuit is seeking $1,000 per user for violations against the US federal Stored Communications Act, as well as damages for California’s unfair competition law and breach of contract.

The lawsuit claims that LinkedIn quietly introduced a new privacy setting in August 2024, which automatically opted users into sharing their data for AI training. Subsequently, the company updated its privacy policy and FAQ section to reflect this change, allowing users to opt out of data sharing for AI training, but not affecting data already used for this purpose.

LinkedIn has denied these allegations, with a spokesperson calling them “false claims with no merit.” It’s worth noting that the changes to the privacy policy did not apply to users in the UK, European Economic Area, and Switzerland.

This isn’t the first legal issue for LinkedIn, as in 2024, the platform settled a class action lawsuit for $6.625 million after being accused of overcharging advertisers by inflating video advert views.