LinkedIn has committed to removing Canadian users’ personal information from its artificial intelligence training sets in a move applauded by Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne.
The commissioner contacted LinkedIn after the media reported that the business-focused social media platform was using individual users’ data to train its generative AI models without informing those users. The OPC asked LinkedIn to disclose its training practices and process of securing user consent.
“I welcome the decision by LinkedIn to pause its practice of using the personal information of Canadian LinkedIn members to train AI models while we work with them to get answers to our questions,” Dufresne said in a statement. “Personal information, even when it is publicly accessible, is subject to privacy laws and must be adequately protected.”
LinkedIn stated that its AI model was privacy protective; nonetheless, it told the OPC that it had halted the existing training practice while it addressed the commissioner’s queries. The social media platform agreed to engage with the commissioner to ensure compliance with Canada’s federal private-sector privacy law.
According to the OPC, the collaboration with LinkedIn aligns with its strategic priority to champion privacy protection in the face of fast-paced technological development and support the development of active digital citizens.
“I encourage all companies to apply privacy-by-design principles and establish privacy standards, which will help to promote innovation while also protecting privacy,” Dufresne said.
In October, LinkedIn made a similar commitment to Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, which flagged identical concerns. That same month, the European Union’s lead privacy regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, fined the social media platform €310 million over its targeted advertising practices.
“The processing of personal data without an appropriate legal basis is a clear and serious violation of a data subjects’ fundamental right to data protection,” DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement published by Reuters.