A lawsuit filed in the US on behalf of LinkedIn Premium users accuses the social media platform of sharing their private messages with other companies for training artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The lawsuit alleges that last August, LinkedIn quietly introduced a privacy setting that automatically enrolled users in a program allowing third parties to utilize their personal data for AI training.
It further claims that the Microsoft-owned company tried to conceal its actions by amending its privacy policy in September, permitting user information to be disclosed for AI training purposes.
A LinkedIn spokesperson refuted the allegations, stating to BBC News that "these are false claims with no merit."
The lawsuit also mentions that LinkedIn updated its frequently asked questions section, allowing users to opt out of sharing data for AI purposes without affecting previous training data, suggesting a pattern of attempting to obscure its actions.
The legal complaint, filed in a California federal court, represents a LinkedIn Premium user and others in similar circumstances, seeking $1,000 (£812) per user for alleged violations of the US federal Stored Communications Act, along with unspecified damages for breach of contract and California's unfair competition law.
LinkedIn informed its users via email last year that it did not enable user data sharing for AI purposes in the UK, the European Economic Area, and Switzerland.
With over one billion users worldwide, nearly a quarter of them in the US, LinkedIn reported $1.7 billion in premium subscription revenue in 2023, attributing its growth in premium subscribers to the addition of AI features.
This article includes additional reporting by Lily Jamali.