Skip to main content
The homepageVoxVox logo
The homepageVoxVox logo

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

LinkedIn Settles Lawsuit, Will Pay $13 Million for Sending Users Too Many Emails

Oh, the irony...

by Kurt Wagner
Warner Bros.

LinkedIn has settled a 2013 lawsuit related to the company’s Add Connections feature, which many users felt just added spam to their inboxes.

The Add Connections tool used a person’s email contact list to find people on LinkedIn and send them connection requests. Once the request was sent, LinkedIn would follow up with two “reminder emails,” encouraging them to accept or decline the request.

Apparently, the company didn’t do a good job outlining what these reminder emails were all about in its terms of service, and as a result, it has agreed to pay $13 million into a fund, some of which will go to people who take the time to submit a claim that they were actually impacted by the feature.

To sum this whole thing up another way: LinkedIn — a company notorious for sending users way too many emails — just settled a lawsuit claiming it sent users way too many emails. Nice.

https://twitter.com/darylginn/status/590664399041519617

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

Most Popular

  1. Virginia Democrats’ irresponsible new plan to save their gerrymander
  2. Take a mental break with the newest Vox crossword
  3. We’re asking the wrong question about the hantavirus outbreak
  4. Trump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expected
  5. Are far-right politics just the new normal?

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh