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Severity
63 / 100▼4
SEVEREpeak 68ranked #8 of 42people’s rank #9 · preview
Case 008 · Social · Admitted 2022
The Enshittification of LinkedIn
The Enshittification of LinkedInLinkedIn, owned by Microsoft since 2016, has steadily layered consumer-engagement features onto its professional network, including AI-generated 'collaborative articles,' a TikTok-style video feed, and daily puzzle games. The company disclosed in 2024 that Premium subscriptions had become a $1.7 billion business fueled by AI features, passing $2 billion the following year. In September 2024, LinkedIn was found to have used member data to train AI models by default before updating its terms of service, with no opt-out offered retroactively for data already used. Earlier, researchers revealed the platform had run social experiments on 20 million users over five years without notifying them.
First symptom
Sep 2022
Symptoms on file
8
Categories
4
Prognosis
Severe
2 privacy · 1 quality · 2 pricing · 3 features
Alternatives
The Paper Trail
| Date | Category | Symptom · rating · source |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-09 | privacy | Secret social experiments on 20 million users revealedResearchers disclosed that LinkedIn ran large-scale randomized experiments on about 20 million users from 2015 to 2019 via its People You May Know algorithm, testing how connection strength affected job mobility. Users were not notified that they were subjects of the experiments.↳ UPI |
| 2023-03 | features | Generative AI rolled out across profiles and recruitment adsLinkedIn expanded its generative AI assistant to write profile summaries, job descriptions, and recruitment ads, following the launch of AI-prompted 'collaborative articles' earlier that month. The moves pushed machine-generated text into core surfaces of the network.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2024-03 | pricing | Premium tops $1.7 billion as AI features drive upsellsLinkedIn disclosed for the first time that its Premium subscription business reached $1.7 billion in 2023 revenue, with subscriptions up 25% year over year. The company credited new AI-powered features available only to paying subscribers for accelerating growth.↳ U.S. News & World Report |
| 2024-03 | features | TikTok-style short video feed addedLinkedIn began testing a TikTok-like vertical video feed in a dedicated tab of its app, letting users swipe through algorithmically recommended short videos. The format mirrored consumer entertainment apps rather than the platform's professional networking origins.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2024-04 | quality | Collaborative articles draw 'AI crap' backlashFortune reported widespread user backlash against LinkedIn's AI-generated collaborative articles, which critics described as a 'cesspool of AI crap' built from machine-written prompts padded with user contributions. LinkedIn had incentivized contributions with a 'Top Voice' badge, encouraging volume over expertise.↳ Fortune |
| 2024-05 | features | Daily puzzle games launch to extend time on platformLinkedIn launched three daily logic and word games, Queens, Crossclimb, and Pinpoint, designed to extend time spent on the networking platform. The games rolled out globally through LinkedIn News with score-sharing to connections.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2024-09 | privacy | User data scraped for AI training before terms updatedLinkedIn acknowledged it had been using U.S. members' data and posts to train generative AI models by default, with an opt-out toggle, before updating its terms of service to disclose the practice. EU, EEA, and Swiss users were excluded from the training.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2025-01 | pricing | Premium revenue passes $2 billionLinkedIn reported that Premium subscription revenue exceeded $2 billion over twelve months, with overall revenue up 9% year over year. The company continued positioning subscriber-only AI tools as the main driver of Premium growth.↳ TechCrunch |
The Wall
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<a href="https://enshittification.xyz/linkedin"><img src="https://enshittification.xyz/badge/linkedin.svg" alt="LinkedIn on the Enshittification Index"></a>The Enshittification Index · 42 case files · no source, no entry · updated Jun 2026
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