The professional networking platform LinkedIn is being sued, in a class action, by the firm which claims it shared private messages with third parties, breaking promises of privacy, and used it for AI training without first getting consent from Premium subscribers. The suit claims LinkedIn broke user trust and privacy laws.

Highlights

• Lawsuit filed in San Jose federal court.
• Accuses LinkedIn of sharing private messages for AI training.
• Premium subscribers claim breach of contract and privacy violations.
• Seeks damages for violations of federal and state laws.
• LinkedIn denies the allegations.

About the suit, which was filed on behalf of millions of LinkedIn Premium subscribers, is that they use In Mail messages, otherwise known as premium messages, to send a message directly to another LinkedIn member. Plaintiffs say that LinkedIn secretly gave third parties access to these private messages to train generative AI models. They claim that this action amounts to breach of contract, and violation of user trust.

A major privacy setting included in LinkedIn since August 2024 is the focus of the complaint. In this setting, users could activate and deactivate sharing of their data for AI training. But the lawsuit alleges that after that, LinkedIn updated its privacy policy in September 2024 to specifically allow the company to mine customer data for AI training. Now plaintiffs claim this update effectively kills the previous opt out option.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract and violation of California's unfair competition law, alleges that the company willfully and for personal gain impacted odds of races where she entered wagering pools to benefit children in her foundation. It also asks for $1,000 per person who broke the federal Stored Communications Act. According to LinkedIn, the allegations are without merit.