For a long time I posted on LinkedIn and the number of people reading my posts was relatively small. I eventually worked out how to reach more people but then disaster struck.
I was happy reaching and interacting with my connections. It was a good thing. Then in the past month or so, the number of people reading my posts grew exponentially.
I thought I’d finally got the “drift” of what LinkedIn’s viewers and followers were interested in reading.
The average number of followers per week rose to thousands. This made me happy because my messages, ideas, opinions and reflections were always unique, educational, and of great integrity, very honest, and in no way abusive or inciting.
But then disaster struck and it all stopped.
LinkedIn Automation
With a much larger number of followers, it seemed that instead of being happy that my content was pleasing their members, LinkedIn sees a bull’s eye on my account.
For the past two weeks the platform restricted me from using it, as of this writing three times.
The first time was the biggest shock.
I checked the post LinkedIn said was the causem to see what I did to merit to the restriction. I found nothing offensive, inciting, insolent or outright harmful to the viewer.
Yet, LinkedIn sent me this announcement: “Our automated systems determined that your account doesn’t comply with our Professional Community Policies. As a result, access to your account has been restricted.”
Well, that was very upsetting.
Help Page Investigation
So I checked back and forth on LinkedIn professional policies and could not see that my post remotely matched these policies.
Four possible reasons are listed on their Help page:
- Content violations
- Profile violations
- Identity violations
- Automated tools violations
I haven’t changed my profile and everything there is true, so it shouldn’t be that. I am me, I’m real, and I haven’t changed anything, so it shouldn’t be an identity violation, unless someone is reporting that I’m not real. I don’t use any automated tools, so it can’t be that. That only leaves content, but I’m quite careful about what I write.
And the human reviewers agreed because my account was restored the next day.
So I was back to normal, posting again, but a little bit unsettled. All was well.
But then it happened again.
My account was restricted, I couldn’t log in, and the warning was the same.
Again I reviewed the policies and what I posted. It didn’t make sense.
The next day, LinkedIn restored my account, without comment. Of course, they wouldn’t tell me why, and there is no way to ask for a reason.
Strange!
Then it happened a third time. My account was restricted, and then eventually released.
I have a question for LinkedIn. Why is there no way to communicate with a human or at least a clear explanation of what happened?
Without input from the platform, all I can do is investigate.
Two Thoughts
Here are two really weird things:
First, the same three posts that caused restriction of my LinkedIn account were also posted on Facebook, Instagram, X, Gab and Truth Social. They have completely different people in my audience, none of them restricted me, and Facebook is very strict.
So what is going on? Is there a Bull’s eye on my account? Who put it there?
Second, what is most surprising to me, is that though my account was restricted and restored three times so far, nothing was changed. My account was restored without guiding comments that explain the reason.
Was it really a 100% automated system or was it triggered by one or more people acting against me?
The actions taken made it appear my three posts were so egregious that my account was restricted, but the human reviewers found nothing and reinstated me.
So logic points to a combination of human activity acted upon by the automated system.
Is This The Answer?
The Professional Community Policies page actually invites people to report issues. Unfortunately, it also allows bad actors to interfere with the accounts of people they don’t like.
Here are two relevant sections in LinkedIn Professional Community Policies page:
Tell us if you see abusive content
If you see something you believe may violate our policies, whether in profiles, posts, messages, comments, or anywhere else, please report it to us. Combined with our automated defenses, these reports help us identify and prevent abuse. Users can report content by clicking on the three dots icon in the upper right-hand corner of the content itself on LinkedIn. Please use the reporting tools responsibly and only for their intended purposes. To learn more about how to report inappropriate content, behavior, or members, visit our Transparency Center.
In addition to LinkedIn’s trained content reviewers, we use automated systems to identify potentially violative content. Violating content can be removed from LinkedIn. Learn more about our approach to content moderation, including our automated systems, here.
These two paragraphs appear to be the smoking gun that shows how a disingenuous person or group can disrupt anything they want, by classifying it as abusive.
Violating our community policies can result in action against your account or content
These policies apply to all members. Depending on the severity of violation, we may limit the visibility of certain content, label it, or remove it entirely. Repeated or egregious offenses will result in account restriction. If you believe action taken on your content or your account was in error, you can submit an appeal.
Learn more about how we enforce violations of our Professional Community Policies.
Cancel Culture
With people everywhere taking inspiration from the success of cancel culture to shut down people and speech they don’t like, I expect this to continue.
For a while, I thought the system was designed to stop me posting, but now I see bad actors could use LinkedIn’s features against the platform and people they want to silence.
My posts were not against policies, and support staff agreed because access was restored without asking me to change anything.
This is why I think the account restrictions were initiated by human activists who want to silence me and my connections.
There may be a bull’s eye on my account, but LinkedIn didn’t do it. Weak people did.
It’s all very mysterious but I think I understand what’s happening now.
Am I doomed to keep repeating this strange cycle? Possibly. It is frustrating and inconvenient.
My next step is to try verifying my account, to see if that stops it.
I will continue to be a good partner to LinkedIn. Thanks to their support staff, I am treated like a partner not a challenger. If only the automated system could do the same.
The thing I’d like to happen is that people who engage in this activity get a stern warning to stop it.
I’d love to hear from my friends and business connections on this. Has this happened to you? I hope not.
