LinkedIn encourages members to report harassment by flagging conversations as “inappropriate or offensive.” The company said it investigates incidents and takes “appropriate action,” which can include being barred from the platform. In addition to reporting them, members can also block harassers.
Eichler still has an active profile on LinkedIn. In a telephone interview, Doe said she was shocked after receiving the photo but didn’t know how to block him on the LinkedIn app. Eichler didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Suzi Owen, a LinkedIn spokeswoman, said sexual messaging such as that described in the complaint “is prohibited and violates our user agreement, and we investigate and take action when violations are identified.”
Despite billing itself as a professional network, unprofessional behavior isn’t a new complaint by users of LinkedIn. “I’ve had my fair share of weird messages on LinkedIn, so my standard practice is not to accept invites from anyone (mostly men) that I do not know or are not affiliated with my industry,” said a woman who works for a technology firm and requested anonymity for professional reasons. “In short, [LinkedIn] is not much more professional than any other social network site, in that people are messy and bring their messes everywhere.”
LinkedIn is the closest thing Stephanie McDonald has to a workplace. McDonald, a Charleston, South Carolina-based recruiter, runs her own business and spends the majority of her day messaging potential hires on the professional networking service. She said multiple prospective candidates have asked her out on a date over LinkedIn, and she often gets flirty messages. Once, a man asked if she would be willing to have phone conversations with him weekly, for money. “That one was definitely the worst and made me think about getting off of LinkedIn,” McDonald, 49, said.
McDonald sometimes responds by saying she’s not interested, stressing that she uses LinkedIn for professional purposes. “Some people don’t say anything; some people come back and are pretty cruel,” she said. She disconnected from a man who asked to pay for her phone companionship, but she could still see when he had looked at her profile.