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 claims that in August last year, the world's largest professional social networking website “quietly” introduced a privacy setting, automatically enabling users to opt into a program that allows third parties to use their personal data to train artificial intelligence.
The Microsoft-owned company is also accused of concealing its actions a month later by changing its privacy policy to say that user information could be disclosed for AI training purposes.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told BBC News: “These are false and baseless allegations.”
The filing also said that LinkedIn changed its “FAQ” section to say that users can choose not to share data for AI purposes but that doing so will not affect training that has already taken place.
“LinkedIn’s actions…suggest a pattern of attempting to cover its tracks,” the lawsuit said.
“This conduct indicates that LinkedIn was fully aware that it violated its contractual promises and privacy standards and intended to reduce public scrutiny.”
The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in California on behalf of the LinkedIn Premium user and “all others” in a similar situation.
It is seeking $1,000 (£812) per user for alleged breaches 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 did not allow user data to be shared for AI purposes in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
LinkedIn has more than 1 billion users worldwide, about a quarter of whom are in the United States.
In 2023, the company attracted $1.7 billion in revenue from premium subscriptions.
It also said that the number of premium subscribers is growing rapidly as it continues to add more AI features.
Additional reporting by Laila Jamali
