In a preliminary ruling, LinkedIn was granted immunity from antitrust counterclaims concerning its data-sharing practices and non-compete pact with Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook. It is alleged that this agreement enabled LinkedIn to monopolize the professional networking market.
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Judge Haywood S. Gilliam Jr. dismissed the case without prejudice, finding that the Facebook-related allegations were untimely and the claims targeting LinkedIn’s “anti-scraping” policies—its efforts to prevent mass data collection by bots—fell short of showing harm to competition. Meta isn’t named as a defendant.
The suit accused LinkedIn and Facebook of agreeing not to compete in the professional social networking market, allowing LinkedIn to inflate subscription prices.
