GoKawiilLinkedIn secures court order against ProAPIs and Netswift over data scraping
A California federal judge finalized a settlement requiring ProAPIs and Netswift to stop mass-scraping LinkedIn user data, halt sales or transfers of that data, cease using fake accounts to access the platform, and delete previously scraped information. LinkedIn had sued the companies and their CEO last October, accusing them of running millions of fake accounts to continuously harvest profile, company and school data as well as user posts and comments. ProAPIs, which describes itself as a data pipeline platform, said it has agreed to a consent judgment and denies offering tools to scrape LinkedIn.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The settlement gives LinkedIn a legal template for pursuing scraping operations that use disposable fake accounts to evade detection, a tactic the company said made it impossible to stop the harvesting through blocking alone. It follows another LinkedIn legal win five months earlier, suggesting the company is building a pattern of enforcement actions to deter data brokers from monetizing user profiles without consent. The case also underscores ongoing tension between platforms and third-party firms over who controls access to publicly visible social media data.
- A federal judge finalized a settlement between LinkedIn and ProAPIs/Netswift over mass data scraping.
- The firms must stop scraping, selling or transferring data, using fake accounts, and must delete data already collected.
- This marks at least the second major scraping-related legal win LinkedIn has announced within five months.
Source: therecord.media, 2026-09-24
Published there as: “LinkedIn wins court order blocking mass scraping of user data”
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