Some of you may have noticed I was inactive on LinkedIn for a couple of days recently. In fact, my entire profile was gone and my name wouldn’t appear in your inbox either. I became a LinkedIn ghost. This is because my account had been restricted – and I know I’m not the only one.
I went through a real emotional rollercoaster. From panic, through despair to anger. I’m lucky I have an amazing and supportive network who helped me through this. Now I’m back (for now anyway), I’m determined to help others out. I may not be able to do much, but as there’s next to no information available on the subject, I thought I’d share with all of you what I’ve learned so far. That’s not much either, but the good news is I’ll keep digging and in this I’m not alone either.
As far as I know no one is really safe – Premium account holders report being blocked just like anyone else. So simply upgrading your acccount will not guarantee your account won’t be restricted.
I was on the platform and when I refreshed my feed, I was logged out. After trying to log back in, I was redirected to a screen that explained my account was now restricted.
You should know there are more than one types of restriction. One of the two (as far as I know) may occur:
• Your account could be temporarily restricted, in which case you’ll be notified about the exact time when the restriction will be lifted,
• Your account could be permanently restricted, in which case you’ll be advised to appeal you will need to provide an ID or passport online
While I am not trying to tell you what to do, I think if you’re asked for your ID, you should not send it through without considering the security issues.
We have become so used to providing any information we’re asked for, we seem desensitised to the dangers. Are you sure your connection is secure and LinkedIn will be the only ones receiving your ID? Do you know what could be done in your country with information included? Do you know who, at LinkedIn, will gain access to your data and how they will process it?
I decided not to share such sensitive data but even if I did, my full first name doesn’t match what I’m using on LinkedIn. People never refer to me as Katarzyna, so I felt it would serve me better to use Kasia for my profile – I use the same everywhere else. Once I was restricted, I couldn’t alter or delete my data so providing ID didn’t guarantee getting back on the platform.
Before you panic (just like I did), make sure to tell your network what happened. They may be able to help.
1. The first thing I did was to send a message to LinkedIn Help on Twitter. Unfortunately, they advised me they wouldn’t be able to help. You may still want to try, but I can’t promise you better results.
2. The second thing was asking for help – this is the discussion if you want to read through it. What I got from it was an email address for LinkedIn Customer Service. I contacted them immediately, but it took over a day to receive a reply, so message them straight away! If you don’t have the email address, please look at the comments, it’s been mentioned a couple of times 🙂
3. Then I started receiving messages from my network. Some people I know contacted their connections at LinkedIn to ask them for help on my behalf. Ask your friends and connections if they could help, if you are paying for your LinkedIn account make sure to speak to your contact directly.
4. Suddenly it turned out people started showing their support. On LinkedIn (I couldn’t see it but got lots of screenshots form my network!) and Twitter, tagging their LinkedIn contacts or the LinkedIn Help account asking them to help me get back on the platform.
Now I know you may think you have no one to do this for you. This isn’t true. I will be the first one to admit that LinkedIn did an incredible job providing us with a great networking tool. But that means we’re all a community now and I’m sure you made connections to people who will support your efforts to get back on the platform!
After lifting the restriction, LinkedIn Customer Service messaged me to explain what happened. They claimed I reviewed too many profiles and suggested this may have been caused by a sourcing tool. But I don’t use any plugins or extensions that operate on LinkedIn. I know other people who are currently blocked on LinkedIn who don’t either – so it seems like a generic line rather than a genuine reason.
The truth is none of us know why LinkedIn are currently blocking so many users. There are lots of smart people trying to guess what’s happening, but I haven’t yet heard anything that I would feel fully explains the situation.
Please make sure to carefully read the Terms of Service. If there’s anything that stands out or alarms you, anything you haven’t noticed before – share it in the comments please! If there’s anything you think may have caused your account to be blocked, it’s probably best to be upfront about it. If you don’t, we’ll continue to look for answers together.
Whatever happens, after spending a couple of days off the platform, I can tell you there is a life without LinkedIn 😊 I’m determined to understand what happens and if I suffer any consequences for it, so be it. I see great value in LinkedIn but less because of the platform itself. It’s YOU, my network. It’s the people I get to interact with that create this value. So if I ever get blocked permanently, I won’t panic. I’ll just see if we can connect elsewhere 😊
ON THAT NOTE if you’d like to keep in touch, you may want to subscribe to this blog. We never know when I become a LinkedIn Ghost again 😉
101 Comments
glad to have you back on a linkedin
and thank you for sharing this material, hope, it won’t be needed, however… kto wie? 🙂
Fingers crossed it isn’t! 🙂
Am Solomon atongi am from Ghana am a politician a use my LinkedIn my business but I can’t find my page I don’t know why? Please help me to get my page back I sent submit my passport about 2week Now but my page and my profile am still cannot see help me please
What if you’ve been restricted permanently?? For bogus reasons??? I’m a nurse for goodness sakes, not a criminal!! They told me I “threatened violence and bodily harm”!!! Really???
I’m afraid anyone can report your profile, although I do believe LinkedIn should do a better job verifying these reports. If someone claims you threatened them on the platform, surely LI would have a record of it… I’m sorry this is happeing.
Hi! Kasia
a similar experience has happened to me and my account has been permanently restricted. I did submit my passport copy despite being skeptic in order to have my account restriction uplifted.
I’m really sorry. You should contact LinkedIn to have them remove your information – even when they restrict your account permanently I have a feeling they keep your information which they shouldn’t…
Kasia,
Like you I’m suffering an anxiety attack. I did submit my driver’s ID in hopes to resolve the issue and have yet to hear back except for this message:
Subject: Jumio Id Verification for Appeal [180327-004096]
Auto-Response (03/27/2018 09:17 CST)
Thanks for contacting us. Someone from our support team will get back to you as soon as possible.
Regards,
Your LinkedIn Customer Experience Team
*** This message is automatically generated by our system to show we’ve received your case. ***
HOPE THIS IS NOT A SCAM REPLY
I hope this will be enough for you to get back access to the platform! Fingers crossed.
How can I contact linked in? I received an email from them stating that I would hear from someone and have not yet. It been five days I think. HELP!
I’d try doing so on Twitter – it’s not guaranteed to work but there’s some chance.
While this is concerning, we need to consider alternatives to LinkedIn and be pro-active about it. I know Facebook isn’t LinkedIn and they serve two different purposes, but having connections / network on FB would certainly help mitigate this.
On the sharing of personal data like passport: I cannot see any good reason for this. I am in Europe and this would certainly be protected information under GDPR (due 25th May 2018). While I am not a security nut or a rabid conspiracy theory evangelist, I would certainly be very wary of sending any information like that to a corporation that isn’t booking me flights!
Thanks for that comment Kevin, I absolutely agree on the need to diversify. Facebook is becoming a much more important source of candidates as well as some of the other platforms you can use. I am also aware that under GDPR the way LinkedIn approach this would probably not be legal – certainly the fact I wasn’t allowed the right to be forgotten is something that would breach the regulations. So I’m not concerned about GDPR, in fact I’m looking forward to being better protected against information extortion like this.
Hi Kasia. I’m very happy that your problem was resolved. I had the impression however from the comments on Facebook that this had happened to many people and that they had soon had their service restored. So I wonder if the campaign made the difference or if you were bound to be restored in a few days anyway.
That’s a great question. The truth is I have no idea why LinkedIn put or lifted the restriction from my account. However from what I’ve heard, most people either have only been restricted temporarily (so they knew exactly when the restriction would be lifted all along) or they submitted their ID for verification. I didn’t share my ID with Linkedin which I believe makes this case slightly different from others.
Good to know. Glad to help!
You really did! As far as I know, it’s the email address you found that did it!
Thanks for posting this Blog so quickly Kasia! You are a machine 🙂
Please can you send me the email address for LinkedIn’s Customer Support as I would like to get this issue resolved ASAP.
Have a super day and thank you
Hello Kasia – I’m glad your issues are resolved but wasn’t it curious how many people were willing /did actually send passports/driver license information to LinkedIn (or whoever they actually sent it to – LinkedIn is very silent on this matter) without thinking much about it?
As you point out – it is NOT necessary to offer proof of identity to LinkedIn and again, I point out – the organization is publicly silent about this passport business. It’s very disconcerting.
Maureen Sharib
Phone Sourcer
513 646 7306
I’m afraid I know plenty of people who shared their ID. They felt time pressure I think and didn’t know who to contact to resolve the issue. I also heard some people say I shouldn’t be so alarmed because a proof of identity is a normal thing to ask for… We’ve become desensitised to the dangers of sharing information online. I definitely hope LinkedIn will stop this practice and comment on why it was implemented in the first place.
Hi Kasia,
The same thing happened to me recently! I also do not use any software but received this message.
If you discover any more information surrounding this I’d love to hear about it.
Jenna
I will definitely let everyone know if I manage to learn anything Jenna, I think it’s important LinkedIn finally give us some answers!
Hello Kasia,
I am currently locked out and did not see any option to appeal or get anything through. I did google search and my profile has been removed from LinkedIn
Please help. I could not find LinkedIn email
Try getting in touch with lcshelp@linkedin.com to see what happened. So you don’t even get the screen where they ask you for your ID?
Seems, that they really block, because of the X-ray search. I used only x-ray and they restricted me. No dangerous extensions on my PC.
Some of my friends, which previously used only Linkedin search and started to use google search were restricted.
But why not to tell users about this? What’s the purpose?
Frankly, I have no idea what could be the reason behind it or the purpose.
Me to blocked.. have you succeeded 8n getting back your account?!!
Yes, I was successful. I can’t really confirm why that was though – all I can suggest is contacting lcshelp@linkedin.com – good luck!
Hi Kasia!
Could you help me to restore my Linkedin account?
I have been restricted permanently after having sent my passport scan.
If I am right, I should write to the support team about this (info@linkedin.com ?), and ask my friends to do the same for me having added the link of my dead profile ?
Or ask them to make a post on Linkedin having touched someone VIP from linkedin guys in it?
Hi Stanislav,
So you sent in your ID but still didn’t get your account back? This is so wrong! The email you want to try is lcshelp@linkedin.com
I’d just try to explain what happened and ask to have your account back. If it doesn’t work (and please know I can’t really confirm this helps) then yes maybe ask your friends to help too. I had people help me out and either that or my own email helped!
Hello Kasia. This is very helpful. I am having the same issues right now (account restricted, already provided my ID, but have not heard back from Linkedin yet). Although I already sent a Twitter message to them (to which they replied), I have not been able to find the email address for LinkedIn Customer Service. Could you please share it with me?. Thanks and best regards, Jose
Hi Jose, try lcshelp@linkedin.com – I hope his helps!
Hi Kasia,
Anna here. We are connected on LinkedIn.
The same thing happened to me yesterday! It’s so unfair. 🙁
I just read your post some time ago and now I’m facing it myself.
Please share with me an email of LinkedIn Support & advice how can my LI friends help me?
Take care,
Anna
I’m so sorry to hear this Anna! Here’s the email I tried: lcshelp@linkedin.com
I can’t confirm that it helped, but some of my connections asked for my account to be restored on Twitter and on LinkedIn (tagging me on the first one – on LinkedIn it wasn’t possible). I have no idea whether this helped convince LinkedIn but it definitely made me feel better and I know you have your friends helping out too 🙂 good luck getting back, I hope it happens very soon!
Thanks for the story Kasia, it has given me hope three days into my lockout. I have used the email you listed imploring for access to be restored. As a job seeker I have already been dropped from a short list as the recruiter thought there was something fishy happening when they went back to my profile.
Oh no, this is really bad! See I was wondering what happens when this starts affecting candidates… after all recruiters can be candidates too, so it’s not unimaginable. It just really doesn’t make sense to punish users for being active – I’d understand encouraging people to pay but banning them from the platform? It’s just unreasonable. Fingers crossed you get back on the platform soon!
Well looks like I am done. I laid it all out, why I had been extra active, why I installed extensions, and why I kept going – desperation to find a job (coming up on a year). Just got a one sentence reply saying it can’t be changed.
Sad part is, I was in the first two or so thousand members in Australia, most of that as a premium user (stopped in the past few months) and have referred a few hundred people to the platform. An errant behaviour for less than 1% of my time on the platform and I am gone. And they have my id now as well!!!
Devastated.
Hi Fred,
I’m so sorry to read what happened to you! Have you been able to get back on LinkedIn? Have you tried paying again with Premium?
I’ve has a similar experience-;( I canceled my Premium trial, opting not to move forward with Premium. I’ve been restricted from all correspondence with Ist degree connections from that day. I can’t do anything on the site.
The stories I’m reading are unconscionable, they’re destroying people’s livelihoods and lives. Most people don’t find out until it’s too late!
Fred, perhaps contacting an influencer who isn’t bought and paid for who can advocate on your behalf will help. Or if you have nothing to lose, blitz social media. Most people are unaware this can happen, maybe get the statistics and shame theme them into changing!
Seriously, people who they’ve done this too will jump on the bandwagon of “big business exploiting innocent people”. Especially when the horrific ramifications are exposed.
Would love to know how things turned out for you Fred, I’m scared for my business—
Cheers,
Bonnie
I am a senior with a small lead generation consultancy that I have had for 18 years. Without any warning I was locked out of my account – “restricted” and asked to verify my identity by uploading my DL. I have a IT service contract with The Geek Squad and they arrived this AM, repaired my scanner and uploaded my DL to LinkedIn. I got an auto response from them saying they will be in touch as soon as possible re a verification of appeal? It sounds like I am in prison, don’t know what for, and I need a lawyer! Nothing like this has ever happened to me in all the 40+ years I have worked full time. Granted we did not use technology at all for many of those years either. I am looking for an alternative to LinkedIn – I cannot afford D&B Hoovers and One Source/Avention is now owned by D&B.
If anyone can recommend a lead generation company – in other words, I need to be able to look up companies and contacts within those companies and verify their title, read about their roles etc. I do not buy lists .. I do executive level lead prospecting.
Would welcome anyone’s suggestions.
Hi Leslie, yes it certainly is a horrible feeling when you’re restricted without any explenation! You should email LinkedIn at lcshelp@linkedin.com to find out why they restricted your account. Don’t give up just yet… but looking into alternatives isn’t a bad idea.
So I managed to track down a senior person in Australia at Linkedin in. He said there wasn’t anything anyone can do. So I started to set up a new profile under a new email and didn’t link my phone. Two jobs in I got locked out again, so I guess I am done with Linkedin for EVER. Hoping I get a role in a business that has a LinkedIn account, I am going to make the sales rep squirm though without Linkedin I suspect I will be an Uber driver until retire Yay Me!!!
Fred, you won’t be able to set up a new account unless LinkedIn delete all your information. You have to ask them to confirm they did that before you have another try I think.
Hey, I just got restricted and I can’t put a connection request through unless I know their email addresses. Do you know LinkedIn Help’s email? I must have come across as straight up spam when I was only reaching out for a rigorous job search. Thank you very much and have a nice day.
Best,
Morgan Julian
Hi Morgan,
Technically that isn’t the same as getting restricted. The reason this happened is because you sent out connection requests to people you didn’t know – they must have ignored them and marked them as spam. In the future, you should always use a short message when connecting with people you haven’t interacted with before. I believe your account should be back to normal, but just in case you may want to email lcshelp@linkedin.com
Hi Morgan Julian,
I am also facing the same issue. Were you able to figure out what the issue is and how to resolve it?
Thanks,
Maitrik
Hello,
I was using LinkedIn as a way to introduce my business to people I felt could benefit from it (Mobile Venous Access Company) and got permanently restricted. I was having good luck with responses and networking, and was using the LinkedIn email as a way to communicate with potential customers… appointments for meetings, additional information they had requested…now it’s all gone. I honestly didn’t know LinkedIn was not supposed to be used this was.
Please, what next? I don’t have any other professional accounts that I could ask my friends to help me with getting reinstated. And I’m afraid that this could have tarnished my professional reputation. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Kimber
Hi Kimber, I would try emailing lcshelp@linkedin.com first to try and find out what got you in trouble. Don’t panic, just ask what happened – LinkedIn is a professional networking site and all you did was use it for that exact purpose. Let me know how you get on, I hope you manage to clear the situation with them!
Hiya Kasia,
I’m a student who is looking to study at Oxford University. Therefore I have been requesting to connect with a high number of people, to gain some knowledge about the course. I have not used automation tools to do so, but have been using the android app. I have been adding many people in my recommended page, and I have been manually asking questions.
However, my account was banned after a few warnings of being over-active. I believe I have not violated any rules, and have been PERMANENT restricted due to suspicion – I’m just very keen!
I have submitted an appeal of my passport, but I have recently hear it’s been rejected and my account is restricted still.
I’m really gutted I’ve been banned, because I have lots of valuable information in my LinkedIn messages. Ive put a lot of time into my account and the advice may well determine if I get into Oxford.
Hi Jess, you should definitely message LinkedIn Help to see if something can be done! It seems unfair to encourage people to be active without warning them they can be restricted as a result of this activity. I’m really sorry you’re having these issues, let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
Kasia – I’ve been in touch with both their email and twitter. They’ve said their decision is final. So ridiculous! They’ve got no proof of me using an automatic system, all they’ve stated is that my traffic is high.
Very unhappy with their policies and customer service 🙁
Thanks for sharing your story Kasia.
Exactly the same thing happened to me, after I switched from the IOS app to the android one.
I have used LinkedIn for a number of years without a problem.
I read and adhered to the T&C and I have not done something, to the best of my knowledge that warrants this restriction.
I used the LinkedIn app on my iPhone and my PC for a long time without problems.
On 27th December 2017, my account was temporarily restricted, as soon as I used your Android app on my new phone. I was accused of using scraping software, which I was not because all I did at the time was using the app. At the time, I did not know what scraping software even was. I contacted LinkedIn support on Twitter regarding this matter, and was given a link to contact them. I think that I sent a report at the time but I can’t find it right now.
Last Saturday, I got kicked out of the app and had to provide a copy of my passport which I did. I received an email today saying that I had ” viewed an excessively high number of pages”. All that I ever did was remove the connections that I did not know. Nothing more. I think that I usually spend 20-30 minutes doing that.
What I had noticed in your app, is that there seemed to be ‘ghost Windows’ in the background, owing to the fact that there several different ways to remove unwanted contacts. Maybe this is what multiplied the number of request, I do not know.
What I know is that as I mentioned earlier, this never happened on a PC or IOS, just on the Android app.
I spend a lot of time updating all my information on LinkedIn. In fact, my profile was an “all-star” profile, not that of a spammer
Did you manage to get any help from LinkedIn, any explanation Nik? Also, when you say “your app” you mean the LinkedIn Androip app, is that right?
Thanks for the reply Kasia,
Yes, I meant the LinkedIn app. I just pasted here the message that I sent them. No replies since. I opened up a case with their Customer Support (I have not used you direct email link yet), total silence.
Maybe Jess below wants to get in touch with me so that we can show that there is some issue with their app? You can message me on @nbernaz on twitter.
From what I understand, this is a life sentence, and appealing is not possible since they just ignore you.
I know, that’s the ridiculous part! I don’t understand why the decision has to be permanent… a lot of people seem unhappy about it but LinkedIn just ignores all of them. Soon enough they won’t be able to brag about the number of users anymore if they keep it up.
This is the exact thing that happened to me! Seems like customer service is offering very little to help us.
Were you kicked off indefinitely? Or did you get your profile back?
Kasia, Morning!
My account is permanently restricted by LinkedIn. I have already appealed to them and submitted the identity proof.
Could you please help me?
Their reply emails state the violations i have been indulged into due heavy traffic on my page and posts.
I am or was having 22K+ followers on LinkedIn. Please help, i need to be back soon.
With best regards,
Honey Tiwari
I am afraid once you submit your ID it’s really up to them to decide if they want to let you back on… I’ve heard of a couple of cases where they refused to lift the restriction 🙁
Hi Kasia,
I recently got permanently restricted from LinkedIn. After sending multiple messages to Customer Support, they sent back these emails.
“Thank you for your reply. We noticed that an excessively high volume of pages continued to be viewed through your account despite our previous warnings. To protect our members’ information, the User Agreement prohibits systematically viewing large numbers of LinkedIn pages.
Due to continued unusually high traffic volume detected on your account after multiple warnings, this account has been permanently restricted.”
Followup Email:
Our records show that we have notified you about the permanent restriction on the account. As stated in our previous notification, we are unable to lift the restriction due to violations of our User Agreement.
I just emailed lcshelp@linkedin.com to plead my case, but I am not banking that they would be able to help. Do you know any other way to get back on the site? I have been trying to make new profiles(they seem to know they are duplicates and are asking for verfication), trying to contact employees of Linkedin to see if they are able to put me directly in touch with a customer support representative so that I may personally call them, and am even thinking about visiting their office in person to see what can be done. Any advice you have would be great.
Well I believe you can try calling them – it seems there’s a US phone number available somewhere however I haven’t tried that…
Would you happen to know the phone number? I haven’t found any numbers anywhere, so if you know one to call, I’d really appreciate it. I have been making efforts to connect to current employees to see if anything can be done, but nothing seems to be working so far. Would you happen to know of any petitions as well to change this ridiculous rule? I definitely want to challenge this rule, as being a fan of the site shouldn’t warrant punishment.
Today I’ve got the message that my account is permanently restricted. 🙁
I don’t know what to do to lift up the restriction. I’ve got the reply that they are not able to lift this restriction. They wrote about multiple warnings, but I don’t know what they mean with that. The only thing I’ve seen lately was that I had to login again with a robot check. I haven’t seen any explanation why.
to each try of communication I get an automated message:
Our records show that we have notified you about the permanent restriction on the account. As stated in our previous notification, we are unable to lift the restriction due to violations of our User Agreement.
After reading in detail the user agreement I understand their point of view. I’ve visited many pages lately and I’ve invited sales professionals to my network. I receive also a lot of requests myself of people I don’t know. As long as they potentially could be of help to my network or myself I accept these.
A permanently restriction of my account after all these years of membership and a network of 26K people is very hard to me to understand. This is an important communication platform for me and my (potential) candidates and customers.
I’m not sure Linkedin has the users’ best interest in mind in this case. I think the most difficult part is the fact that most communication in this case is automated. Maybe calling someone at LinkedIn could help – but I haven’t tried that myself.
I got two warnings for the temporary restrictions from LinkedIn, so i started using LinkedIn less. But instead of this, they blocked my account and when i submitted my ID, they just did message to me not to lift restriction from my account. I’m not understanding what should i do because LinkedIn is so important for me. Anyone could please help me out ?
The only thing you can try doing is to find out why you were blocked in the first place. If it’s a misunderstanding, you might be able to appeal their decision.
My account has been restricted. I gave them my driving license to verify my ID and they have not replied to me yet. This was last Friday. I did get an email immediately saying they will contact me as soon as possible after giving them my ID. When I try to log in on Safari using my iPhone, it says ‘temporarily restricted’. They’re essentially ignoring me. I’ve not received any warnings before. I am not sure if I have been permanently banned, or if it’s just a matter time?
Hmm I would try and contact LinkedIn Help through Twitter in this case. I know it’s very hard to get in touch with LinkedIn… but maybe that would be the way to go?
Hi! my account have been restricted. I sent my Id, before I read your post and they had replied by saying that my profile had too high traffic. What the hell is that??? First, it is not true, second, I work hard on my profile to generate traffic, is that a problem? they said it will be permanently closed and they can’t do anything. Now I can’t talk to then anymore. Do you have that email address? Thank you so much
That does sound weird! Why would you be punished for something that’s a good thing – and also a little outside your control! Try emailing lcshelp@linkedin.com 🙂
Hi Kasia,
Great to see that is not just me! The same thing happened to me! What is the email address/number to contact them on?
Thanks Kasia,
Luke
Hi Luke, try lcshelp@linkedin.com – fingers crossed!
Dear Kasia,
Thank you for sharing this precious information.
I’m in need for your help I have the same situation, My LinkedIn account been restricted, I contacted the costumer support, there replay that they were unable to remove the restriction.
Thank you for your feed back,
Best regards,
Mohamed Gebriel
I would ask them to explain why they are unable to do so. What did you do to get in trouble?
Hi Kasia,
Sorry for late response,
There replay was “An unusually large number of page views from the account”.
I presented my apology along with my promise it won’t happen again, yet no alteration ?
Thank you for your support,
Mohamed G. Seyam
Dear Kasia,
Maybe you’ve heard about new policy or smth like that on Linkedin? I have 10 people around of me who were restricted. We do not want to send our private documents, because we are not sure, how they’ll use it. Any advises?
It’s very difficult to do anything about this once you’re account is restriced, but you can try messaging lcshelp@linkedin.com to ge some answers. Maybe you were using a tool that got you in trouble?
It’s simply unacceptable to receive that kind of support considering how much this platform costs. Sounds like it’s about time that we collectively abandon linkedin – they have totally lost touch with the user. The market needs a user-centric platform, one that does better serving job seekers and recruiters, companies etc. One that faces those looking for jobs, and the recruiters actively seeking qualified candidates. With a business model designed to directly serve the needs of user types – not to scrape personal data and hold your account and livelihood hostage in exchange for you passport info. For recruiters, Linkedin is their central tool that their success depends upon. Access to it is what puts food on their tables and pays to keep a roof over their heads. This obstinate, hijacking and taking our livelihood hostage with little explaination, lack of support, and requiring sensitive personal information is simply unacceptable. At the very least, this behavior is obviously a horrible user experience, and at it’s worst, asking for your passport ID while holding your paid service hostage on fraudulent incredible reasoning is bordedrline illegal in the United States, and violates several international data laws and trade law. We have to start a movement to put an end to these types of practices. We need to make it illegal to have a long user agreement that is hardly comprehensible, forces the user to read illegible, extensive legal jargon that is designed to not be read, all to just have you quickly skip it, agree to it entirely by checking the box and moving forward. Sorry but you just unknowingly signed your rights away to any sort of recourse for anything, along with access to everything in your phone, all your contacts, your messages, etc. How this bs holds up as a legitimate contract in court beats me. These types of “agreements” should be thrown out as they’re designed to be deceptive. The company should make it fully clear the data theyre accessing, and anything that is of clear interest on behalf of the user, especially in regards to data collection, charges, termination etc. and should be stated promptly, in understandable language at the top of the agreement page. It should have a check box next to every piece of information requiring the user to read the bold points about data policies and etc etc. Restricting accounts that aren’t breaking any rules? Collecting the data of your personal messages, your phone contacts etc? This is shocking and makes me sick to my stomach hearing this after how much this platform costs for premium users. These problems can be solved using humanist design. To me it sounds like this is the behavior of an elaborate phishing scheme, not the that of a legitimate business.
Hi Kasia,
The same thing has happened to me now. Out of the blue, my account has been restricted. No idea why.
My mails get no response, there is no phone number, and they tell you to contact them through the Help page, where there is no contact details. Only specific questions, none of which relate to this.
I have NO idea how to fix this. Do you have any further advice. I lost my 1500+ contacts on my account, just like that…
Johan
Hi Johan, I’d try getting in touch with them on Twitter or at lcshelp@linkedin.com – fingers crossed you manage to get your account back!
im having the same issue. nobody, and i mean nobody is responding to emails to lcshelp at linkedin email.
Seriously. is is this easy to destroy someone’s career. How the hell are we supposed to get help? Not one real person respondsi constant bot responses. Im about to seriosly harm myself..
I have to agree. I have already left Facebook and Instagram for many reasons. After I returned from two weeks abroad and tried to log into my LinkedIn account it says I am restricted. I have not used the account for weeks, SO????? I guess I am not supposed to be on much social media. As a writer I will just start submitting my work to individual websites and on my own website instead. Very sad turn of events.
A little update from me.
Nothing has been done by LinkedOut in the last 3 months to reinstate my account.
I came to realise that I was just wasting my time trying to connect to people using their platform. 3 months without them, and I am still alive. In fact, it gets you thinking about other ways to make connections, which is a good thing.
On a positive note, I just send them an email to ask them to erase all the data that they have on me as per the Article 17 of the GDPR. I suggest that everyone in our situation does the same. It’s time for them to lose a bit of time now…
Get your account back within 2 day with the magic email below:
Subject: GDPR Compliance
Good morning.
In February 2018, LinkedIn decided to permanently restrict my account. While I feel that this decision was unjustified, and since all my attempts to solve the issue were met with silence and standard responses on LinkedIn part, I no longer wish LinkedIn or its partners to have access to the information that I submitted when I sighed up with your company.
Being a EU citizen who signed up for LinkedIn in the UK, I invoke the right to be forgotten under the article 17 of GDPR.
I expect LinkedIn and its partners to comply within the next 7 working days, as well as sending me confirmation but email that the data that you hold about me, without my consent, has been deleted.
LinkedIn reply:
Hi Nik,
I’m sorry it’s taken this long to get back to you and thanks for being so patient.
I’ve removed the restriction from your account. However, after today, if your account becomes restricted again due to unusually high traffic volumes, we won’t be able to remove the restriction.
Unusually high traffic volumes may be generated by third-party applications or browser extensions that interact with LinkedIn in violation of LinkedIn’s User Agreement: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement
If you use any such software, we recommend disabling it.
Please let me know if you have any other questions. I’m always happy to help.
Regards,
Joey
LinkedIn Safety Operations Support Specialist
Thanks for sharing this Nik!
Thank you for posting this! I was just restricted by LinkedIn in the past couple of days. The information you provided and in the comments has been invaluable. I am not sure why I have been placed on “restriction”. I go on LinkedIn two or three times a day to browse the news feed and see what people are posting. I don’t add people at random and have not done so in a while. I have reached out to the email address you provided and did go ahead and provide my drivers license for verification. Unfortunately, once you have been restricted by LinkedIn they make it impossible for you to contact them. Their help form has a link to contact LinkedIn directly which then reference to the “Contact Us” at the bottom of the page, but that function is gone! I will keep you posted on my struggle to regain my LinkedIn account.
Fingers crossed you can get back soon Matthew! 🙂
I’m being asked for an email when I try to connecte with new contacts. It’s been a week so far
I don’t rely on LinkedIn for connects, which makes it even crazier – I’m super conservative who I cannot next with
The only thing I can think, I had multiple sessions open because I move around a lot
LinkedIn Twitter said to contact support, but I’m worried if I do that, they will ask for ID
Once they have that, there is NO way back onto the platform as they will know immediately who you are
What would you do? Wait it out? Start a new one?
I’ve been on the platform since 2009, my social social index is sky high and I pay premium
They seem to be a bit crazy with their restrictions!!!
Hi Steve, this type of restriction is a result of your invites being marked as spam. If people mention they don’t know you after they reject your invite, this will also happen. LinkedIn will not block your account for this and this will go away in a while, so I wouldn’t worry too much! 🙂
[…] back to google and searched for some more blogs on the topic from previous restricted escapades. One post in particular was most helpful in that they recommended two […]
I have just experienced the same issue.
It is really frustrating and I am loathe to provide my Passport as verification.
I sent the back of my Drivers License and most of the front as I had cropped some detail.
It was denied as not readable.
I am frustrated that I cannot simply send some one an email.
Help!!
Have you tried contacting them via Twitter or lcshelp@linkedin.com?
The same restriction was placed on my LinkedIn account yesterday. As a Premium user, an email to lcshelp@linkedin.com was required to start. Our LinkedIn Enterprise Relationship Manager directed us to email lcshelp@linkedin.com, as you suggest, then I was contacted via email by a specialist on their Safety Operations Support (SOS) team to alert me that they were reviewing my restriction. The result: LinkedIn said, “Hiretual does not comply with our User Agreement and is being used to abuse LinkedIn’s website. To protect our members’ information, LinkedIn prohibits the use of any software, including browser plug-ins or browser extensions (also called “add-ons”), that scrapes, modifies the appearance of, or automates activity on LinkedIn’s website.”
I am sure this is only one of several reasons someone can be restricted. I found this afterward in my research. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/recruiters-you-under-arrest-linkedin-jail-here-ashfaq-ahmed
I saw you post this on your LinkedIn feed. This is a great article, and super timely for me! Between this and stalking your LI profile, I’ve learned a truckload. Thanks for sharing your expertise.
Welcome 2019! And its still happening. I am working currently as an hr employee. And i needed to hire people urgently therefore contacting candidates made them restrict my account.
I dont feel.to.share my identity or passport information like this. But what if my boss says me to give it 😦.
kasia what do u suggest?
This will not go well with your boss, but no employer should force you to do things you don’t agree with. You can do one of two things: try to find connections at LinkedIn who can help or set up a new account using both your first and middle name.
Can you please explain more on the forth point on ‘What to do’ section? My colleague’s LinkedIn account has been permanently restricted. She also submitted her ID card to verify her identity for the first time when her account had been restricted. But later her account was restricted again. So I’d like to know how I can do to help her LinkedIn account be released from the restriction and she can come back on this platform?
Well, a lot has changed since I first published the post. But you can try to find someone within LinkedIn who could help – I was lucky, someone I knew had a connection in LI who helped me.
The only alternative I’ve managed to observe since is to create a new account but using your midlde name. This way LinkedIn doesn’t seem to recognise it’s the same person and some people I know have done this and are now carrying on with the new account.
Thank you Kasia
Can you share with me the content that you sent to LinkedIn Customer Service please?
I simply asked why I was restricted, presented a list of the tools I was using to see if one of them was the reason. Then out of the blue I was allowed back in – no response from LI though.
Thank you very much Kasia