Linkedin’s latest transparency report shows a decrease in fake profiles, but an increase in harassment
LinkedIn has released its most recent Transparency Report, which details content removals, government information requests, and spam/fake profile measures taken by the network in the first half of 2020.
While LinkedIn may not receive the same level of attention as other platforms in terms of manipulation programs and/or influence operations, the newest adjustments and efforts LinkedIn is taking to keep its members safe are worth highlighting.
First and foremost, false profiles are undoubtedly one of the most serious issues on LinkedIn, considering that once a user connects with you, they have access to all of your personal information from your LinkedIn profile.
According to LinkedIn: “During this time, our automatic defenses blocked the great majority (98.3%) of the bogus accounts we dealt with. We also witnessed a large drop in the number of fraudulent accounts created, as well as a drop in spam and scam content provided by phony profiles.”
Fake profiles on LinkedIn, according to the Transparency Report
Indeed, LinkedIn stopped 33.7 million accounts at the registration stage in the prior quarter, resulting in a 3x decline in the most recent period. It’s unclear why this is, but it appears that, at least according to LinkedIn detections, the platform’s attempts to stamp out phony profiles are having an impact and preventing scammers from utilizing this strategy.
In terms of content violations, LinkedIn says it noticed a significant spike in the quantity of content removed in a number of categories, “including misinformation and violent or graphic content, driven in part by world events that generated polarizing content, such as the United States elections and COVID-19.”
Report on LinkedIn Transparency — Content Removals
The increases in removals across the board are significant; here’s a comparison to LinkedIn’s latest transparency update:
Report on LinkedIn Transparency — Content Removals
LinkedIn is clearly putting in a lot more effort on all of these aspects, whether through enhanced detection or greater activity. LinkedIn has experienced a steady increase in user interactions, which appears to be resulting in more negative interactions as well.
The good news is that LinkedIn is responding, which should help users stay safe. However, the increases are significant, which could be a source of concern for the platform in the future.
LinkedIn’s total actions in response to government requests remained very consistent.
Government demands for the LinkedIn Transparency Report
The number of requests for information in the United States has declined, while the number of requests from outside the United States has increased slightly.
“The number of government demands for data about our members increased overall, although the requests covered significantly fewer user accounts than in the previous reporting period.”
As a result, while some other platforms are seeing a rise in demands for involvement in user patterns and political conversation as authorities strive to stifle resistance and dissent, LinkedIn is not witnessing a major increase in government measures.
As previously said, the figures reveal some intriguing trends, notably in terms of reported harassment and abuse behavior on the network, which could represent greater use of LinkedIn for a wider range of communication. Over time, the site has seen increased sharing about people’s personal lives and ideas, rather to just professional engagement, which could lead to more unwelcomed disagreements and personal discussions that dip into the dubious ground.
It’ll be interesting to see if these stats hold up in LinkedIn’s next Transparency update and whether they’re indicative of longer-term app behavior changes.
