LinkedIn Settles Spam Lawsuit for $13M
You may have been annoyed by receiving a barrage of "Add Connections" emails from LinkedIn users. But imagine how they felt when they found out the professional networking site had hijacked their email contacts to spam those messages out. They were not pleased.
In response, users filed a class action lawsuit against LinkedIn, claiming the emails damaged their reputations. And now the company has agreed to pay $13 million to settle the suit. So check your Inbox to see if you'll get some of the settlement.
Messed Connections
The scheme worked like this: users signed up for LinkedIn's "Add Connections" feature; then the site would send not just one but a relentless barrage of messages to their email contacts, inviting them to connect on the site. Users complained that they were embarrassed to know their contacts were receiving multiple requests to connect, and that their professional reputations (something LinkedIn is designed to foster) were damaged in the process.
Users also complained the feature was nearly impossible to turn off. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner admitted in May that his site was guilty of "sending too much email" to some users, telling Buzzfeed, "That needs to be corrected and improved, and it will be."
Add Me to Your Bank Account
But it wasn't corrected soon enough, and LinkedIn could be paying over $1,000 each to users who signed up for the "Add Connections" feature between September 17, 2011, and October 31, 2014. The exact amount each user will receive depends on how many users file a claim, although LinkedIn has agreed to add $750,000 to the settlement pool if payouts reach $10 or less.
You should've received a notice already if you're eligible to file a claim, and you can file your claim online. Sadly, there is no settlement money for those of us who received a deluge of connections messages. Yet.
Related Resources:
- LinkedIn To Pay Users Up To $1,500 In Spam Settlement (Huffington Post)
- LinkedIn Email-Hijacking Lawsuit Update: Company Claims Free Speech (FindLaw's Technologist)
- Employers Can Hijack Your LinkedIn Account, Court Rules (FindLaw's Technologist)
- LinkedIn to Pay $6M in Back Wages: Labor Dept. (FindLaw's Free Enterprise)