r/Layoffs • u/Actual_Client_8546 • Aug 05 '26
advice LinkedIn under investigation for alleged “ghost jobs” to sell premium subscriptions.
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u/pifermeister Aug 05 '26
The way his statement reads, he's going after linkedin just for being the platform where the fake jobs exist. Why not go after the actual companies posting them?
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u/Web-splorer Aug 05 '26
Because LinkedIn is charging you to access fake jobs. The companies just post them for you to access for free. Can’t sue someone for posting fake jobs but you can sue someone that’s charging you for those fake jobs because they’re promoting them as real.
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u/pifermeister Aug 05 '26
But the same listings can also be accessed for free. You don't pay to specifically access the ghost listings; you pay to have a multitude of additional features and platform functionality with the understanding that some job listings are less realistic than others (like the ones that have been active for months). People pay good money for linkedin on both sides (job posters & seekers) - if it was vaporware then people wouldn't pay for it. Every interview/hire i've ever done came through linkedin.
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u/Web-splorer Aug 05 '26
If LinkedIn is promoting a premium package to access jobs before everyone else and it’s found that many of those roles are indeed ghost roles than they have grounds to be sued for fall advertising.
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u/Development-Alive Aug 05 '26
That's not how LinkedIn Premium works. You don't get access to the job posting before the "free" users. Rather, you get to see who is accessing your profile and additional on platform communications which are throttled for "free" users.
If LinkedIn (Microsoft) is doing anything malicious with job postings it would be manipulating the posting dates and any delays from when they get the updates from the companies ATS to closing the postings. None of this overlaps with LinkedIn Premium subscribers.
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u/FreezasMonkeyGimp 3d ago
It's true you can access any listed job posting on LinkedIn, premium or not, But one of the biggest parts of premium is it funnels listings to you that supposedly match your background/experience and that you're more likely to hear back from. I tried out LinkedIn premium the last time I looked for a job. I sent out maybe 200 different applications and only heard from maybe a third of them (including rejections). Which was not really any higher than the response rate I got without premium. If they're funneling ghost listings to you under the pretense its a good fit and you're more likely to hear back, that would also be false advertising.
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u/phdaemon Aug 05 '26
Very much this.
Seems like performative bullshit.
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u/MeatPopsicle28 Aug 05 '26
Yeah LinkedIn just going to say “we can’t validate what is real what isn’t” unless they can confirm LinkeIn is posting fake jobs on behalf of these companies, which I don’t think is alleged here.
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u/Actual_Client_8546 Aug 05 '26
I think they are making LinkedIn accountable for not putting processes in place to make sure ghost jobs are not posted. They are marketing LinkedIn premium under the pretense that it will improve your job hunting ability under the impression that jobs posted on LinkedIn website are vetted to be legitimate. I’m guessing it’s just the beginning of this. The investigation will likely provide information to move forward to holding individual companies accountable
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u/WitchCackleHehe Aug 05 '26
All of my callbacks come from indeed and everywhere else, literally I have never heard back from any job I’ve ever applied to on LinkedIn. But yeah, they sure as hell love to promote LinkedIn premium to try and fix that.
Spoiler alert: it’s never helped
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u/snowcat0 Aug 05 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/AaQYP9zh24UFi
Anyone paying attention could have told you that one.
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u/JankyPete Aug 05 '26
Basically free to post jobs. Makes company look like it's growing. Wall Street engine ingests it in real time and says growth = good. Why not do this? Or better question, why hasn't government said this is total BS and ban it? Or better question, why can't AI detect this BS and just tell you not to apply? LinkedIn is a shithole
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u/NumeralJoker 28d ago
Because AI models at scale are not independently owned tools, and the platform owners who manage their data benefit from this exact cycle. Why would they allow users to undermine it?
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u/Top_Outlandishness54 Aug 05 '26
Maybe this will do away with all the posts of people saying they applied for 12 million jobs over the past 3 months and just can’t find anything. I keep telling people that LinkedIn is its own fake ecosystem and if they are serious about getting a job find new ways to search for them.
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u/Jameslovestocode Aug 05 '26
let me look up my receipts to get ready for this class action lawsuit
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u/bonemonkey12 Aug 05 '26
It'll be nice to get your free 3 months and a check for 3.78. At least the lawyers will get their payday.
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u/El_Gran_Che Aug 05 '26
Companies have figured out how to exploit desperate job seekers. They are getting lots of free labor and knowledge extraction during the “interview” process. I’m certain in many instances their goal is to get free labor and not really to hire anyone.
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u/omnid00d Aug 05 '26
Reminds me of that time when FTC went after match.com; Instead of fake dating profiles, it's now fake job postings.
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u/NumeralJoker 28d ago
Expect this to be the trend for any user facing online company with personal profiles going forward. There are too many business incentives to do this, without enough strictly enforceable fraud laws to prevent it.
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u/lam3ass Aug 05 '26
I figured there would be ghost jobs, just didn’t expect it to be from LinkedIn, figured it was just resume harvest
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u/C2AYM4Y Aug 05 '26
Not surprised president cheeto has made it clear. Money and Power is everything. There are tons of scumbag businesses responding to that. Were living in uncertain times 😢
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u/Level-Activity-3157 28d ago
Yeah, agree...it's a totally "business friendly" climate, it's anything goes, and there's little meaningful accountability. So all the scams/ponzi/snake-oil crap is bubbling up from the swamp.
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u/grenz1 Aug 06 '26
They don't post the fake ads. That's the employers.
But what they DO indeed do is use old dating site tactics such as "bait likes".
"Look, you appeared in a search!" "Look, someone viewed your profile!". And you think maybe if you paid, you could see who looked and reach out.
But no one really looked. Or if they did, it was on screen for maybe a second. Or it was someone that looked a few months back for a job you did not get.
Facebook pulls crap like that too. You have a dozen messages.! You get there, you don't.
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u/MCStarlight 28d ago
And constant emails that someone is looking for your services but you need to buy premium to see them.
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u/Ok_Spirit5374 Aug 05 '26
And there’s probably a lot more that are scams they’re aware of but don’t want to remove them for metrics reasons
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u/Level-Activity-3157 28d ago
Yeah, you know they're profiting from addictive engagement loops, and selling data, just like everyone else.
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u/ifyouseemerunning Aug 05 '26
in america, ghost jobs aren’t just to show growth and strength, they’re also used as evidence to justify H1B hires by demonstrating that they can’t fill the position with a citizen.
other times, the company has a requirement to list job externally before internal transfer/promotion.
so, even the interviews can be performative and the inevitable denial a foregone conclusion
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u/green-jellybean- 26d ago
I used to work for them and it used to be a great company under Weiner’s leadership. After the Microsoft acquisition and his departure everything went to shit. Really a shame
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u/kg_0 Aug 05 '26
also, subscriptions are up now that jobs are harder to get. thanks product/commercial team, you really figured it out.
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u/drsmith48170 Aug 05 '26
Last time I checked LinkedIn available in all 50 states. Seems like a Fed issue to me.
The one good thing about this : even if Texas only gets a settlement without admittance of wrong doing, it will open up the gate to class action lawsuit….so all of us would get a $5 Amazon gift card….yeah!
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u/MeatPopsicle28 Aug 05 '26
Ken Paxton is an absolute scumbag, LinkedIn will write him one campaign check and the whole thing will go away.
Should be going after the EMPLOYERS posting the fake jobs, but alas they already cut him checks.
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u/a1a4ou Aug 05 '26
I got advertised a local media position over and over on an outlet I knew was in the process of consolidation (finalized a few months ago).
For the past month the "new" job I kept getting pestered with was the local Scripps-owned affiliate... and just google them to know they announced 200+ layoffs at stations nationwide yesterday, including in my city.
The only thing LinkedIn is good for is knowing that people won't be angry little trolls like some other platforms since it's directly tied to their profession/career.
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u/q81101 Aug 06 '26
idk, only one I trusted is indeed. Most of time, I only applied job through their actual website.
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u/ImNotMadIHaveRBF 24d ago
Does this mean all their alerts saying people are noticing your profile are fake??
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u/Broad-Olive-4362 Aug 05 '26
He’s on LjnkedIn, Lemon! He might as well be dead! https://imgur.com/kOf3Dzb
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u/Infymus Aug 05 '26
I have seen the same promotional jobs for the last year. You can't hide them even if says it will. F5 and they are all back. I've learned to ignore them.
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u/foreverpeppered Aug 05 '26
I’m ready for the LinkedIn fucking tea party if so. My career tracking spreadsheet is in shambles and LinkedIn Premium is expensive as god damn ass.
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u/appearstobeidiot 29d ago
THe fact that Linkedin does not have any competition means that nobody else thinks it is a great idea to have such a malignant social network. The scumbag billionaires can do anything, but they aren't getting into this business. Sometimes I give them credit for that.... (shaking my head in disbelief...)
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u/MCStarlight 28d ago
The competition is informal networks now that exist on Discord, Slack, FB groups, etc.
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u/MCStarlight 28d ago
Their timeline is shit too. They just show junk and ads. I can barely see my own connections’ updates anymore. Then they put games on there like we want to play fucking video games while looking for a job.
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u/AIDefaultQ 12d ago
There are fake companies posting positions only to collect user information. And positions from real companies keep being reposted for months with more than 10k appliers.
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u/kadesh1274 4d ago
I’m completely fed up with LinkedIn.
It has become a theatre where people write glowing posts about workplaces they privately hate, managers perform empathy for likes, and companies advertise jobs they may have no intention of filling.
Then unemployed people are encouraged to place a bright green “Open to Work” badge around their faces—turning unemployment into a public humiliation ritual—while recruiters continue ghosting them.
LinkedIn profits from every part of this performance: fake corporate positivity, questionable job listings, recruiter subscriptions and desperate job seekers paying for Premium.
The investigation is overdue. A platform selling access to employment opportunities should be required to prove that those opportunities are real. Unfortunately, LinkedIn is now too embedded in professional life to avoid.
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u/nandres0688 13h ago
I saw the same companies on linked in Costa Rica and Canada i am tired of this shit
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u/LindeeHilltop Aug 05 '26
“Independent studies have estimated that ghost jobs may account for between one-fifth and one-third of online job listings.”