• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, January 22, 2025

LinkedIn has been hit with a class-action complaint for allegedly violating its privacy promises by using paid subscribers' private messages to train generative artificial intelligence models.

Those messages “include incredibly sensitive and potentially life-altering information about employment, intellectual property, compensation, and other personal matters,” California resident Alessandro De La Torre alleges in a class-action complaint filed Tuesday in the Northern District of California.

LinkedIn's move raises the possibility that “private discussions could surface in other Microsoft products,” according to the complaint.

“Customers’ data is now permanently embedded in AI systems without their consent, exposing them to future unauthorized use of their personal information,” the complaint alleges.

The complaint includes claims that LinkedIn violated express promises to keep users' messages confidential, and a federal law that protects email users' privacy.

In August, the Microsoft-owned platform allegedly introduced a new default setting that allowed the company to harness subscribers' private messages for AI training.

The following month, LinkedIn “discreetly” updated its privacy policy by stating that the company could draw on users' personal data to develop and train artificial intelligence models, according to the complaint. That privacy policy contained a link to a frequently-asked-questions page that says people could opt out of having their data used for training, but only in the future.

“Opting out means that LinkedIn and its affiliates won’t use your personal data or content on LinkedIn to train models going forward, but does not affect training that has already taken place,” the company states.

“LinkedIn’s actions, including discreetly introducing a new privacy setting, concealing critical data disclosures, and stealthily altering its privacy policies and statements, indicate a pattern of attempting to cover its tracks,” the complaint alleges.

The complaint also notes that LinkedIn's frequently-asked-questions page states: “The artificial intelligence models that LinkedIn uses to power generative AI features may be trained by LinkedIn or another provider.”

The complaint characterizes the reference to “another provider” as cryptic, adding: “Admitting that data may be disclosed to 'another provider' ... suggests that LinkedIn was aware its previous terms did not authorize these practices and was attempting to avoid further scrutiny.”

A LinkedIn spokesperson said the lawsuit's claims are "false" and lack merit.