LinkedIn has been fined €310 million ($335 million) by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) for using members’ data for targeted advertising without clear consent—a violation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This hefty penalty adds to the growing list of significant fines levied against major tech companies for privacy breaches under GDPR.
The DPC determined that LinkedIn, a subsidiary of Microsoft, collected and processed user data for behavioral analysis and ad targeting without a lawful basis or adequate transparency. The personal information LinkedIn allegedly used came not only from data provided by its users but also from third-party sources, further amplifying the breach. According to the DPC’s announcement, LinkedIn’s methods for obtaining user consent were neither “freely given, sufficiently informed, nor specific and unambiguous,” violating the GDPR’s stringent requirements on personal data usage.
The DPC’s investigation began after a French regulator raised concerns about LinkedIn’s practices in 2018, prompting Ireland’s DPC, as Microsoft’s lead regulatory authority in the EU, to take over the inquiry. Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle emphasized the seriousness of the violation, stating, “Processing personal data without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation of a data subject’s fundamental right to data protection.”
While LinkedIn disputes the claim that it violated GDPR, it has committed to amending its practices in line with the DPC’s requirements. “While we believe we have been in compliance with the GDPR, we are working to ensure our ad practices meet this decision by the DPC’s deadline,” LinkedIn stated.
This ruling is part of a broader crackdown by European regulators on tech giants’ handling of personal data. The DPC has previously imposed a €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) fine on Meta for transferring EU user data out of the region, and Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection issued Amazon a €746 million ($815 million) fine for unauthorized ad targeting practices. These actions underscore the EU’s commitment to enforcing GDPR protections and upholding users’ data rights in an increasingly data-driven digital economy.
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