Company 'owns' employee's LinkedIn for the duration of their job: 'They have full access to my account including posts, comments, reactions, DMs, and all done by them, for their brand, using my name and my face'

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  • A man in a suit looks confused at his computer
  • My startup owns my LinkedIn without telling me?

    Not sure if i'm overreacting but i need to hear from people who've actually been through this. When I joined my current startup they said my LinkedIn would be "managed by the team" during my employment. I assumed that meant help with content or suggestions but it doesn't.
  • They have full access to my account including posts, comments, reactions, DMs, and all done by them, for their brand, using my name and my face. I don't approve anything and just find out after something has already been posted or someone has already been messaged from my account. The deal is that they hand it back when I leave.
  • So for however long i work here my professional identity isn't mine. My connections are real people i've built relationships. with over years and my credibility isn't something i built overnight, and right now someone is using all of that as a marketing asset without me having any control over what's being said in my name.
  • I genuinely don't know if this is becoming a common startup practice or if this is completely unhinged. I've not seen anyone talk about this openly and maybe that's because people are scared to while they're still employed. Has anyone else experienced this and did you agree to it? Do you think this crosses a line and honestly, is this even something that can be legally enforced?
  • Would really like to know what people think because i feel like im going crazy for finding this wrong.
  • A man in a suit talks on the phone while writing in a notebook and looking at his computer
  • Commenters gave their takes on this strange circumstance

    TowelCarrying Tou... Take back the account. Find a less evil employer
  • MrMikeJJ I would not be surprised if that is against the terms of service. is this even something that can be legally enforced? No. Potentially illegal (fraud). Change the password on your account. Someone must have hacked it
  • C... change your password, turn on 2fa, revoke access, then jobhunt quietly fk the job market man... cheat and lie whenever it benefits you, as you can see you cannot trust anyone. When looking for smth new also cheat, use tools to tailor resume, use
  • tools to autoapply, detatch emotionally from the process. edit since I got a qustion about the tailoring tool, personally used Jobowl for this and can recommend it, simple tool, for automation I vibecoded a playwright script
  • PurpleMuskogee How did they gain access to your account? Is your password recovery email address an address they have access to?! It sounds completely unhinged, and while I know you need a job and all, I would still ask them to point you to the part of your contract where you agree to that.
  • I assume this isn't in your contract, but if it was, I'd contact a legal adviser (some are free and deal just with employment related queries, if you are in the UK ACAS is a great organisation). Just because it is in a contract doesn't make it legally binding or enforceable.
  • AdCharacter1715 More fool.you for letting them have access to it in the first place.
  • JustmyOpinion444 Look, I didn't even HAVE a LinkedIn until my job started one for everyone.
  • th... Change your password, tell them you've deactivated it. If needs be set up a dummy account with less detail and without your network (for them to use until you find a new job). It always baffles. me what some employers think they can get away with! ETA additional detail
  • Q... Why in the ever-loving f did you give them the login? "No" is a complete sentence. Edit: I worked in a shop as the director of digital content, and the corporate goons handed down
  • instructions that I was supposed to gather everyone's credentials for their social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and add them to a corporate spreadsheet so they could jump in and push out content as they wanted.
  • I refused. But not only did I refuse, I also went to every person whose accounts I was supposed to compromise, and I told them what I was instructed to do, that I wasn't doing it, and told them no matter what to never surrender their usernames and passwords to anyone because they do
  • not have your best interests in mind. I told them if they want to abide by the rule, create a second account registered with a dummy email account and only hand that over. Don't ever use it though.
  • auditor2 If you still have access change the password and take the account private until ground rules get established
  • MuchDevelopmen... Are they paying you for the privilege of stealing your identity? Because that is effectively what they've done. I can't imagine that this is legal for employment. Even if you did give them access. Personally, I'd change the password and lock them out of it.
  • danielt1263 Tell LinkedIn that they did this to you. It is explicitly against the user agreement and the company will be forced to stop without any action from you directly.
  • ILikeMagicz Wow..the fact you willingly agreed to give them full access is..wow. And i thought humanity couldn't get any dumber, but you proved me wrong.
  • Ba... The 'without telling you' part is what's most crazy here. So long as this control isn't explicitly in your contract - which it may be - or in company policy with pretty explicit framing, this is way over the line.

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