Taking legal action to protect members against scraping

Recently, we’ve shared more about how LinkedIn works to combat scraping abuse including defining the universe of unauthorized activity, how we protect our members, and some of the technical measures we employ to prevent abuse on our platform. Another way we work to keep our members and their data safe is by taking legal action against those that cause harm on our platform.

Today we filed a federal lawsuit against a Singapore-based company Mantheos Ptd. Ltd and its founders for the unauthorized scraping of millions of LinkedIn member profiles. Using a network of hundreds of fake LinkedIn member accounts and virtual debit cards under fake names, Mantheos fraudulently obtained LinkedIn Sales Navigator subscriptions. They then used these to scrape member profile information that is only available for viewing on our website in the logged-in environment by other real, logged-in LinkedIn members only. 

These actions violate LinkedIn’s User Agreement and Privacy Policy and the law. In addition to filing this lawsuit, we have restricted the fake accounts, terminated Mantheos’s Sales Navigator subscriptions, and taken new measures to prevent this type of illegal abuse in the future. These actions are designed to protect the LinkedIn community and keep control of member data where it belongs: in the hands of our members. 

We’re always working to advance our technical and legal enforcement efforts further, and we’ll continue to update you on progress and our work to keep members safe.