LinkedIn has been forced to $13m to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in a California District Court in US over allegations of spam.
The suit, filed in 2013, accused LinkedIn of sending unsolicited invitation emails to potential users by using email contacts lists of existing users who imported their email address book.
A part of the money paid by the networking giant for the settlement will be used to pay affected users.
It applies to LinkedIn users who used the website’s ‘Add Connections’ feature between September 17, 2011 and October 31, 2014. The development was first reported by LA Times.
According to the lawsuit, the site repeatedly “spammed” those email addresses on the list by sending constant reminder emails on behalf of members without permission; the feature did not provide an opportunity to give or refuse consent to follow-up emails.
Members who were affected by the issue have until December 14 to file a claim which would make them part of the settlement. It could result in them receiving up to $1,500 (£981) depending on how many people join the lawsuit.
Despite denying any wrong-doing, LinkedIn has now pledged to revise its practices and tell users that two reminder emails will be sent as part of the “Add Connections” service. It also vowed to provide an option to stop reminders from being sent by cancelling the connection invitation, although this will not be introduced until the end of 2015.