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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 last August, the world’s largest professional social networking website “quietly” introduced a privacy setting automatically linking users to 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 that user information could be disclosed for the purpose of training artificial intelligence.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told BBC News that “these are false claims that have no basis in fact”.
The statement also said that LinkedIn changed its “frequently asked questions” section to say that users can choose not to share data for AI purposes, but that this will not affect the learning that has already taken place.
“LinkedIn’s actions … point to a pattern of attempts instead of traces,” the lawsuit says.
“This conduct suggests that LinkedIn was fully aware that it had breached its contractual promises and privacy standards and sought to minimize public scrutiny.”
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in California on behalf of the LinkedIn Premium user and “all others” in a similar situation.
It is seeking US$1,000 (£812) from the user for alleged violations 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, sharing user data for AI purposes is not enabled in the UK, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
LinkedIn has more than one billion users worldwide, with almost a quarter of them in the US.
In 2023, the company generated $1.7 billion in premium subscription revenue.
It was also said that the number of premium subscribers is growing rapidly as it continues to add new AI features.
Additional reporting by Lily Jamali
