Lawsuit Against LinkedIn Over Private Message Use For AI Training Dropped

Lawsuit Against LinkedIn Over Private Message Use for AI Training Dropped

A proposed class action lawsuit accusing LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, of breaching privacy by sharing private messages of millions of Premium customers to train generative AI models has been dismissed. The plaintiff, Alessandro De La Torre, filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice in a federal court in San Jose, California, just nine days after initiating the lawsuit. This came after LinkedIn asserted that the claims were without merit.

De La Torre had alleged that LinkedIn violated its promise to use personal data solely to enhance its services by sharing user messages with third parties involved in AI development. The complaint surfaced after LinkedIn updated its privacy policy in September, which revealed the unapproved sharing of data. It also introduced a new setting to prevent future data sharing, although the setting would not retroactively protect data used for AI training.

Eli Wade-Scott, managing partner at Edelson PC, the firm representing De La Torre, stated that LinkedIn's late disclosures had caused confusion and concern among users regarding how their data was used in AI training. However, Wade-Scott also acknowledged that

LinkedIn provided evidence proving that private messages were not used for AI training.