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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 claims that in August of last year, the world’s largest professional social networking website “quietly” introduced a privacy setting automatically opting users into a program that allowed third parties to use their personal data to train AI.
It also accuses the Microsoft-owned company of covering up its actions a month later by changing its privacy policy to say user information could be disclosed for AI training purposes.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told BBC News that “these are false claims without basis”.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in California on behalf of a LinkedIn Premium user and “everyone else” in a similar situation.
The filing also says that LinkedIn has changed its “frequently asked questions” section to say that users can opt out of sharing data for AI purposes, but that this will not affect the training that is already taking place. took place.
“LinkedIn’s actions … show a pattern of attempting to cover its tracks,” the lawsuit says.
“This behavior suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it violated its contractual promises and privacy standards and intended to minimize public scrutiny.”
According to an email LinkedIn sent to users last year, it has not enabled the sharing of user data for AI purposes in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Additional reporting by Lily Jamali
