You guys must have been wondering, why you got a connection request from me. After all, I have been on this platform for almost 4 years.
But something happened 2 weeks ago which made me wary of this platform. Something I had never expected and something people should be concerned about as well.
On 9th July 2026, I was updating my Linkedin Profile. An auto-correction of a word turned it into an obscene one. I did not realize the mistake until I had saved the changes. I tried to immediately correct the profile description but the Linkedin’s bot had already flagged my account and blocked my access.
The only option I was presented with was to verify the ownership of my account by sharing a video selfie and a government identity to their third-party verification service Persona. Something, I found to be invasive of privacy.
I contacted one of my friends who had gone through a similar experience. When I asked him about it, his answer “I had my account blocked twice. First time, it was because my internship was under a Russian University and second time, because they were able to determine that my new account and the one that was previously blocked belonged to the same person.” He also shared, that sending his video selfie and government identity did not lift the ban from his account.
With this I drew four conclusions:
Linkedin as a platform is ultimately owned by Microsoft which works under US Laws, and your account is accessible as long as your country is not an enemy of United States.
Secondly, all your posts belong to them. In a situation your account is blocked, there is no way to retrieve them back unless you opt-in to share your personal identity.
Third, even if you share your facial data with them, there is a chance you will not get your account back.
Linkedin is abusing their monopoly to collect even more data on people than they previously could and that, is a straight up violation of privacy rights.
I, for one, did not share my facial and government identity with Persona and chose to create a new account.
I do not know, whether this account will be flagged as well or not. But I wish to share this message to my readers regardless.
Starting on, I will be posting here, on my own personal website. This way, even if I lose my connections, even if I lose my account, I will have my stories of learning and success with me.