Accusation of data sharing for AI training: lawsuit against LinkedIn

According to the accusation, LinkedIn passed on private messages to third parties without permission in order to train AI models.

The business contacts network LinkedIn has been sued by Premium customers over allegations of sharing private messages with third parties without permission Models of artificial intelligence to train.

The lawsuit on behalf of millions of LinkedIn users was filed in federal court in San Jose, California. LinkedIn spoke on Wednesday of “false claims that are unfounded.”

Privacy policy updated

According to the lawsuit, in August 2024, Microsoft subsidiary LinkedIn largely secretly introduced a privacy setting that allowed users to enable or disable the sharing of personal information. On September 18, LinkedIn discreetly updated its privacy policy, allowing the data to be used to train AI models.

The “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) stated that logging out “has no impact on the training that has already taken place”.

Lawsuit against LinkedIn: damages demanded

This was an attempt to “cover up tracks.” It suggests that LinkedIn was aware that it was violating its customers’ privacy and its promise to use personal information only to support and improve its platform, the lawsuit says. It was intended to minimize public attention and legal consequences.

The request is for unspecified damages for breach of contract and violations of California’s unfair competition law, as well as $1,000 per person for violations of a corresponding prohibition in the Stored Communications Act.