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A US lawsuit filed on behalf of LinkedIn Premium users accuses the social media platform of sharing their private messages with other companies to train artificial intelligence (AI) models.
It alleges that in August of last year the world’s largest professional social networking website “quietly” introduced a privacy setting that automatically opted-in users in a program to use their personal data for third parties to train AI.
It also accuses the Microsoft-owned company of covering up its actions a month later by changing its privacy policy to say that user information can be disclosed for AI training purposes.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told BBC News, “These are false claims without merit.”
The filing also said that LinkedIn changed its “frequently asked questions” section to say that users could choose not to share data for AI purposes, but that doing so would not affect the training they had already done.
“LinkedIn’s actions … indicate a pattern of attempting to cover its tracks,” the lawsuit said.
“This behavior suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it violated its contractual promises and privacy standards and that it aimed to reduce public scrutiny.”
The suit was filed in federal court in California on behalf of a LinkedIn Premium user and “all others” similarly situated.
It is seeking $1,000 (£812) per user for alleged violations of the US Stored Communications Act, as well as an unspecified amount for breach of contract and California’s unfair competition law.
According to an email sent to users by LinkedIn last year, it has not enabled the sharing of user data for AI purposes in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
LinkedIn has more than a billion users worldwide, almost a quarter of which are in the US.
In 2023, the company earned $1.7 billion from premium subscriptions.
He also said the number of premium subscribers is growing rapidly as AI continues to add more features.
Additional reporting by Lily Jamali
