Khaberni - The professional social networking platform "LinkedIn", owned by Microsoft, is facing two class action lawsuits due to allegations of the platform secretly monitoring users by examining browser extensions.
However, "LinkedIn" says that this claim is exaggerated and misrepresents the practices that were already disclosed in its privacy policy.
LinkedIn stated in comments to "PCMag": "This is a fragile claim entirely based on a fabricated matter. We already clarify in our privacy policy that we scan browser extensions to monitor for any misuse and provide protection for the stability of the site," according to a report by "PCMag" reviewed by "Al Arabiya Business".
The two class action lawsuits were filed last week in a federal court in California after the German group "Fairlinked e.V." published a report on the inspection of Chrome browser extensions, which is done through a JavaScript file on the LinkedIn site.
The report found that LinkedIn scans 6,222 extensions, claiming the company is able to exploit this data to create user profiles and determine if they are using software from its competitors.
Nevertheless, LinkedIn stated that the inspection of browser extensions aims to eliminate automated data collection from the web, and added to "PCMag": "We do not use this data to infer sensitive information about members."
The privacy policy also states that LinkedIn may "obtain information about your network and device (such as IP address, proxy server, operating system, web browser, and extensions)", which includes browser extensions.
LinkedIn portrays the process of inspecting extensions as a measure for privacy protection, as it can help prevent the extraction of member page data without their consent.
However, despite this justification, the two lawsuits demand the platform pay compensation to affected users, alongside halting the inspection of browser extensions, arguing that "LinkedIn" has crossed acceptable boundaries.
