If you joined the social network between 2011 to 2014 then you may be eligible to receive compensation. In order to know why the company has been dragged into this lawsuit we need to understand the “add connections” feature.
This feature lets users import their contacts from their email address into LinkedIn. You may remember the famous subject line “I’d like to add you to my professional network.” When you chose to import these contacts from your email, LinkedIn sent an invite to your contacts to join the network and it was done with your explicit consent.
However, if the contact did not accept your invitation, LinkedIn sent two additional emails to your contact as a reminder. This was spammy to say the least and could have annoyed a lot of recipients.
The lawsuit however, has been filed by the senders. That’s because while the first invitation was sent with their explicit consent the other two were not. Moreover, the emails contained the sender’s name and profile picture which were also used without their consent.
The senders were unaware of such a mail being sent using their names and likeness — those are the issues at the core of the lawsuit. It will cost the company more than $13 million dollars and it has already notified U.S.-based users via email about their eligibility.
How much money can you claim and how can you claim it?
You can claim a maximum of $1500 from this class action lawsuit. The number however, could be much smaller if a lot of people join the claim. If it appears the the compensation goes below $10 per person, then LinkedIn will add an additional $750,000 to the fund.
In order to be eligible according to the claim form, you need to have used “Add connections” feature to import contacts from one or more email accounts between September 17, 2011 and October 31, 2014 to invite non-LinkedIn users. You can file your claim by visiting the form here.