Israellycool reader Rosalind has told me that for the past 2 years, she, along with other Jews, have been penalized by LinkedIn. Their crimes? Trying to counteract antisemitism and misinformation.
Exhibit A
The following comment was removed for “bullying and harassment.” As you can see, it is merely stating facts, and does not seem to involve any bullying or harassment whatsoever:
Exhibit B
After reposting an article from the ADL, Rosalind was informed it was instantly removed as “spam and scam.” After she appealed asking why a post from the Anti-Defamation League, the largest American organization fighting antisemitism, was removed, her post was reinstated:
Exhibit C
On 30 March, 2023, Rosalin was restricted by LinkedIn for “multiple violations of misinformation”:
Rosalind’s 3/30/2023 post referenced here includes a repost of Dr Ramzy Baroud’s own post, in which he admitted he was banned by Twitter for violating Twitter’s Policies. In contrast, Baroud’s posts and comments – some of which are referred to in Fighting Online Antisemitism (FOA)’s 2022 September Report on LinkedIn as an example of antisemitic content – are also misinformation, yet Linkedin does not seem to be removing his posts.
Rosalind’s 12/24/2022 post about the pro-Nazi Haj Amin Al-Husseini was published in response to multiple antisemitic comments comparing Jews/Zionists to Nazis and calling Israel a Nazi state. It was immediately removed for “misinformation.” Rosalind rewrote it and included a comprehensive bibliography,
only for it to be removed for “bullying and harassment.” Rosalind appealed but LinkedIn did not respond.
As for Rosalind’s 5/22/2022 post mentioned by LinkedIn , it refers to established historical fact about the Islamic conquest for which there exists a wealth of available information.
If this wasn’t disturbing enough, it has been reported that LinkedIn removes only 31.7% of antisemitic posts. For example, the following dehumanizing images were found not to have violated LinkedIn’s policies:
Two were removed only after a member of LinkedIn Help responded to an online discussion in which Jews complained about LinkedIn’s refusal to remove antisemitic posts and comments.
And the cherry on top of the poison cake for Rosalind was what happened next.
When a person’s account is restricted, LinkedIn demands proof of identity via a passport photo. LinkedIn claims they delete the photo after verification, but don’t explain how they use the information or photo. Several months after Rosalind was allowed to access her account again after being restricted for the first time, she received an email accusing her of identity fraud:
LinkedIn promised an investigation but several weeks later, she received a second email accusing her of identity fraud. The investigation didn’t materialize, and Rosalind was forced to divulge personal, medical information to explain changes in her face from steroids and chemo. Rosalind informs me how humiliating and upsetting this was, not to mention a defamatory attack on her personal and professional integrity.
LinkedIn is a professional organization for networking aimed at professionals. As such, LinkedIn has better credibility and reliability than other social media outlets. While LinkedIn claims not to tolerate all forms of hate speech, this does not seem to be the case with antisemitism. Rosalind believes her experience with LinkedIn has been one of bullying and harassment because she writes about and reports antisemitism on their platform.
