"LinkedIn to limit targeted ads in EU after complaint over sensitive data use", 7 June 2024

LinkedIn has confirmed it will no longer allow advertisers to target users based on data gleaned from their participation in LinkedIn Groups.

The move comes more than three months after a collective of civil society groups filed a complaint with the European Commission (EC) over a potential violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

In response to the complaint it received..., the EC wrote to LinkedIn to request further information on how it might be enabling targeted ads based on sensitive personal data such as race, political allegiances, or sexual orientation. While LinkedIn maintained that it complied with the DSA, the company has now removed the ability for advertisers to “create an advertising audience” in Europe using LinkedIn Group membership data.

Patrick Corrigan, LinkedIn’s VP for legal and digital safety, said that while it disagreed that its platform could be used “indirectly” by advertisers to target users on special categories of data, it has chosen to remove this feature anyway.

“We made this change to prevent any misconception that ads to European members could be indirectly targeted based on special categories of data or related profiling categories,” Corrigan wrote on LinkedIn today. “The change is effective now for all new advertising campaigns.”

It’s important to note that LinkedIn has done this voluntarily, a move evidently designed to nip the investigation in the bud early — after all, its parent company Microsoft is already facing a raft of regulatory hurdles in Europe over various alleged misdemeanours. LinkedIn will still allow targeted advertising, just not using data garnered from LinkedIn groups.

“The Commission will monitor the effective implementation of LinkedIn’s public pledge to ensure full compliance with the DSA,” EU internal market commissioner Thierry Breton said in a statement...