Microsoft sues LinkedIn for releasing customer data to train AI models
By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – Microsoft’s LinkedIn has been sued by premium customers; The creator of the business-focused social media platform disclosed their personal messages to third parties without their consent to train artificial intelligence models.
LinkedIn introduced a privacy setting last August that allows users to quietly enable or disable sharing of their personal data, according to a class action filed Tuesday night on behalf of millions of LinkedIn Premium customers.
According to the customers, LinkedIn subtly updated its privacy policy on September 18, stating that data can be used to train AI models, and in the “Frequently Asked Questions” hyperlink, it says “it will not affect training that has already been done.”
This attempt to “cover its tracks” suggests that LinkedIn is fully aware that it violated customer privacy and made promises to support and improve the platform’s use of personal data to minimize public scrutiny and legal fallout, the complaint said.
The suit was filed in San Jose, California, federal court on behalf of LinkedIn Premium customers who sent or received email messages and whose personal information was disclosed to third parties for AI training before September 18.
It seeks unspecified damages for breach of contract and $1,000 per person for violating California’s unfair competition law and the federal Stored Communications Act.
“These are false claims with no merit,” LinkedIn said in a statement.
A lawyer for the plaintiffs had no further comment.
The lawsuit came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a $500 billion investment partnership between Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Oracle (NYSE: ) and SoftBank (TYO: ) to build America’s AI infrastructure.
The case is De La Torre v. LinkedIn Corp., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 25-00709.