LinkedIn to Restrict Targeted Advertising in the EU Following Concerns Over the Use of Sensitive Data

LinkedIn has announced it will cease to allow advertisers to target users with ads based on information obtained from their involvement in LinkedIn Groups.

This decision is a reaction to concerns raised over three months ago by a coalition of non-profit organizations through a formal objection to the European Commission (EC) suggesting that LinkedIn might be breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA, enforced across the EU since February, aims to establish stringent rules for online content moderation and clearly define the requirements for algorithmic transparency and advertising targeting practices.

Launched in 2010 by the Microsoft-owned professional networking platform, Groups were designed to foster connections among users sharing common interests. After exploring the concept as a separate application, LinkedIn reintegrated the Groups feature within its principal app in 2018, reaffirming its commitment to enhancing user connectivity through shared interests.

Following the receipt of the complaint earlier in February, the EC engaged with LinkedIn to clarify its practices around enabling advertisers to target ads based on sensitive categories of personal data, such as ethnic background, political views, or sexual orientation. Despite LinkedIn asserting its DSA compliance, it has now decided to withdraw the functionality that permitted advertisers in Europe to assemble ad audiences using data from LinkedIn Groups.

Patrick Corrigan, LinkedIn’s Vice President for legal and digital safety, remarked that although the platform believed it was not indirectly allowing advertisers to target ads based on special categories of data, it opted to withdraw this advertising feature to eliminate any potential misunderstandings regarding the indirect targeting of European members through sensitive data.

Corrigan shared on LinkedIn today, stating, “This measure is now in effect for all new advertising campaigns to prevent any misperceptions that special categories of data or related profiling could be used for indirectly targeting ads to European members.”

LinkedIn voluntarily adopting this change is a significative maneuver aimed at preemptively addressing the investigation, especially given the fact that its parent company, Microsoft, is concurrently navigating through several regulatory challenges in Europe. LinkedIn confirms it will continue to support targeted advertising but will exclude the use of data derived from LinkedIn groups.

“We will closely watch how LinkedIn implements this commitment to guarantee full DSA compliance,” stated Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market, today. “While our oversight will persist, it’s commendable that the DSA is precipitating changes unparalleled by any previous legislation, both within Europe and globally.”

The announcement aligns with recent developments where the EC labeled Chinese e-commerce entity Temu as a “very large online platform” (VLOP) under DSA guidelines, subjecting it to enhanced regulatory focus due to its significant user base. Temu joins the ranks as the 24th entity recognized as either a VLOP or a very large online search engine (VLOSE).