Professionally Annoying: LinkedIn’s $13,000,000 class action lawsuit

The tech-savvy man on my screen spoke on manipulative web design with a cadence reserved for the dystopian cyborgs in cautionary-tale sci-fi movies about the dangers of giving too much of our lives over to technology. His amiable tone babbles on about ethical design and the importance of avoiding manipulative tactics to get people to act a certain way.

He warns the viewer about the perils of tricking users.

You might get sued, he said. Like LinkedIn was a few years ago.

He moved on quickly to a deeper dive into ethical user-centric design, but my focus had already been shifted.

He couldn’t be talking about the same LinkedIn that touted itself as a professional haven. I’d had an account on LinkedIn since time immemorial. What did he mean they’d gotten into trouble?

With a quick search I found that, yes, LinkedIn had been sued. Not only that, but LinkedIn ultimately paid out $13 million dollars and were required to change operating procedures deemed ethically grey.

Though the class action lawsuit filed against LinkedIn came to me as a surprise, problems with the social media network did not. I’ve never met a person who didn’t have a plethora of qualms with the site.