Hong Kong privacy watchdog flags ‘concerns’ over LinkedIn’s default use of data for GenAI

Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data contacts social media platform over default opt-in clause in privacy policy update

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LinkedIn said in September its updated privacy policy included language that indicated users’ data and content would be used by default to train the platform’s GenAI. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:03pm, 3 Oct 2024Updated: 9:28pm, 3 Oct 2024

Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has raised concerns over job-focused social media platform LinkedIn’s latest privacy policy update, which allows its generative artificial intelligence models to be trained on users’ data and content by default.

In a reply to the Post, LinkedIn said on Thursday it had started informing users of the change through multiple channels, citing a September 18 blog post, while an information technology expert said users concerned about the risk to their privacy could opt out of the data collection request.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) said it was inquiring about the update to the policies of the Microsoft-owned platform for jobseekers and recruiters, adding that the issue had also previously raised concerns in other countries.

“LinkedIn’s privacy policy update has raised concerns of data protection authorities in other jurisdictions,” said the watchdog in the statement, noting the update allowed LinkedIn to automatically use the data and content of users to train its generative AI models for content creation.

“The PCPD is also concerned about whether LinkedIn’s default opt-in setting for using users’ personal data to train generative AI models correctly reflects users’ choices.”

The privacy watchdog said it had written to LinkedIn to inquire further about the matter.