LinkedIn is facing a lawsuit in the US which accuses the platform of sharing users’ private messages with third parties to train AI models.
The legal action alleges that the professional networking platform “quietly” introduced a privacy setting in August which automatically opted users into a programme which gave other companies access to their data to train AI.
The lawsuit claims LinkedIn tried to “cover its tracks” a month later by updating its privacy policy to say user information could be made available for the purpose of training artificial intelligence tools, and through an update to its “frequently asked questions” section which said opting out of the scheme did not affect AI training that had already taken place.
The lawsuit has been filed in California on behalf of LinkedIn Premium users.
Premium is the paid-for subscription on LinkedIn which gives users access to additional features including some AI-powered tools.
According to the legal filing, the lawsuit seeks 1,000 dollars (£812) per user for alleged violations of US law around data storage and California’s unfair competition law.
A LinkedIn spokesperson told the BBC that the lawsuit was made up of “false claims with no merit”.
After announcing the privacy policy update last year, LinkedIn confirmed it had paused training AI models using data from UK users following discussions with the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
At the time, LinkedIn said it was not enabling AI training in the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the UK, and was also making an opt-out setting available to users in other areas who did not want their data to be used in the scheme.
