LinkedIn stung with $334 million fine by EU over GDPR violations

European Union lawmakers are once again making life tough for big tech, particularly over privacy and data protection concerns. This time, LinkedIn is in hot water, staring down a hefty fine from the same regulators who previously took Meta and X to task for their GDPR violations.

LinkedIn hit with a massive fine in the EU

LinkedIn is looking at a whopping €310 million (around $334 million when directly converted) fine in the EU after the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) found that it mishandled behavioral analyses of its members' personal data for targeted advertising.

The ruling states that LinkedIn breached the GDPR by failing to secure proper consent, legitimate interest, or contractual necessity to process the data it and third parties collected. For context, the GDPR is the EU regulation aimed at safeguarding information privacy and data security.

Additionally, the DPC scolded LinkedIn and mandated that it must gather all data in a compliant way moving forward.


This decision traces back to a 2018 complaint lodged by the French non-profit organization La Quadrature Du Net. It kicked off an investigation into whether LinkedIn was handling users' personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner. Initially reported to the French Data Protection Authority, the case was later handed over to the DPC since LinkedIn's European headquarters is located in Ireland.

As I pointed out before, this isn't the first time EU regulators have put tech companies under the microscope for their data protection practices. Just last month, the DPC hit Meta with a penalty for violating GDPR by storing 600 million social media account passwords in plaintext. At the same time, it is also probing X regarding its data practices related to AI training.

Now, while this isn't great news for tech companies, I believe that regulatory pressure might just be the wake-up call these giants need to truly prioritize user privacy.