LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit over Those Excessive Emails

LinkedIn has settled a lawsuit that revolved around its infamous “add me” emails, and you may qualify for a piece of the settlement. The class action suit, which was first filed in 2013, h...
LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit over Those Excessive Emails
Written by Josh Wolford
  • LinkedIn has settled a lawsuit that revolved around its infamous “add me” emails, and you may qualify for a piece of the settlement.

    The class action suit, which was first filed in 2013, has been settled for $13 million (plus an additional $3.25 in legal fees). LinkedIn hasn’t admitted wrongdoing, but says it’s choosing to settle the case in order to “focus where it matters most: finding additional ways to improve our members’ experiences on LinkedIn.”

    LinkedIn is sending out emails to members who used the company’s ‘Add Connections’ feature between September 17, 2011 and October 31, 2014.

    Also, if you think you are a part of this class and didn’t receive an email, there’s a settlement website you can visit.

    LinkedIn’s Add Connections feature allows the company to access users’ email contacts and send them requests to connect on LinkedIn.

    That’s not in dispute – as a court ruled that LinkedIn users had in fact given the company permission to do that.

    The issue had to do with the follow-up emails – those reminders that a person is waiting on a connection. According to the plaintiffs, these emails were unauthorized and amounted to spam.

    LinkedIn has provided this statement on the settlement:

    LinkedIn recently settled a lawsuit concerning its Add Connections product. In the lawsuit, a number of false accusations were made against LinkedIn. Based on its review of LinkedIn’s product, the Court agreed that these allegations were false and found that LinkedIn’s members gave permission to share their email contacts with LinkedIn and to send invitations to connect on LinkedIn. Because the Court also suggested that we could be more clear about the fact that we send reminder emails about pending invitations from LinkedIn members, we have made changes to our product and Privacy Policy. Ultimately, we decided to resolve this case so that we can put our focus where it matters most: finding additional ways to improve our members’ experiences on LinkedIn. In doing so, we will continue to be guided by our core value — putting our Members First.

    LinkedIn has backed off its aggressive email campaigns as of late. Earlier this year, the company changed its policies to make emails “more infrequent and more relevant.”

    “Many of you have told us that you receive too many emails from LinkedIn. We’re also not immune to the late night talk show host jokes. We get it. And we’ve recently begun to make changes so that the emails you receive are more infrequent and more relevant,” says LinkedIn in July. ““We also want to remind you that we provide the ability to control which emails you want to receive at your desired frequency. All of our emails have an unsubscribe link at the bottom, and you can visit your Settings page to manage your email experience to your liking.”

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