LinkedIn Set to Pay Members for Spamming After Proposed Class Action Suit Settlement
— -- You might receive a lot of emails from networking website LinkedIn, but you might want to save one particular message from Oct. 2. In that message, the company says it agreed to pay $13 million in a proposed settlement for a lawsuit that claimed the company spammed customers without their consent.
Specifically, the settlement is related to LinkedIn's "Add Connections" service that allows members to import contacts from their email accounts and email invitations to one or more of those contacts. If a connection invitation wasn't accepted within a certain period of time, up to two emails were sent reminding the recipient that the invitation was pending.
A court found that LinkedIn members didn't consent to those two reminder emails, which used the members' names and likeness from their profile photos. While LinkedIn denies these allegations and any wrongdoing or liability, according to the settlement website, the company is agreeing to a payout.
The class members include current and former LinkedIn members who used "Add Connections" to import their external contacts who were non-members between Sept. 17, 2011 and Oct. 31, 2014.
To apply for a payment, members must submit a claim form online by Dec. 14 of this year or mail it. Class members can also file a form to exclude themselves from the class.
The payment will depend on how many people apply for a payout, but it will be at least $10, according to the settlement website. If the payout is less than $10, LinkedIn will add another $750,000 to its $13 million settlement fund.
The settlement website states that authorized claimants will receive a payout about 90 days after the court gives its final approval of the settlement, which takes place Feb. 11, 2016 in San Jose, California.
LinkedIn did not respond to a request for comment.
