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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 last year, the world’s largest professional social networking website “quietly” introduced a privacy setting, automatically enrolling users in a program that allowed third parties to use their personal data to train AI.
It also accuses the Microsoft-owned company of hiding its actions a month later by changing its privacy policy to say that user information could be disclosed for artificial intelligence training purposes.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told BBC News that “these are false claims without any basis.”
The filing also said that LinkedIn changed its “frequently asked questions” section to say that users could opt out of sharing data for AI purposes, but that doing so would not affect training that had already been done.
“LinkedIn’s actions…indicate a pattern of attempts to cover its tracks,” the lawsuit says.
“This behavior suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it had violated its contractual promises and privacy standards and intended to minimize public scrutiny.”
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in California on behalf of a LinkedIn Premium user and “everyone else” in a similar situation.
It is seeking $1,000 (£812) per user for alleged violations of the US federal Stored Communications Act, as well as an unspecified amount for breach of contract and California’s unfair competition law.
According to an email LinkedIn sent to its users last year, it has not allowed sharing user data for artificial intelligence purposes in the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
LinkedIn has more than one billion users worldwide, nearly a quarter of them in the United States.
In 2023, the company earned $1.7 billion in revenue from premium subscriptions.
It also said that the number of premium subscribers has increased rapidly as it continues to add more AI features.
Additional information from Lily Jamali
