Austrian privacy advocacy group, None of Your Business (Noyb), has filed a legal complaint against professional networking platform LinkedIn, accusing the company of failing to fully provide users access to their personal data as required under European Union data protection laws.
The complaint was submitted to the Austrian Data Protection Authority on behalf of a LinkedIn user seeking complete access to personal data held by the platform.
According to Noyb, the user is demanding a full response to his access request and has asked regulators to investigate the matter and impose sanctions on LinkedIn if violations are established.
Noyb, one of Europe’s most active digital rights organisations, argued that LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, has not fully complied with data access requests despite obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The group said GDPR guarantees users the right to obtain copies of their personal data free of charge and understand how such data is processed.
Noyb lawyer, Martin Baumann, criticised the company’s practices, alleging that LinkedIn monetises user data while limiting access to information users are legally entitled to obtain.
“People have the right to receive their own data free of charge,” Baumann said in a statement.
The advocacy group also questioned LinkedIn’s profile visitor tracking practices, noting that users can only access information on who viewed their profiles through paid premium subscriptions.
According to Noyb, it remains unclear whether LinkedIn’s visitor tracking system complies with GDPR requirements, particularly around user consent.
“It is unclear whether the tracking of visitors is legal, as the company does not ask for active consent,” the organisation said.
The complaint adds to mounting regulatory scrutiny of major technology firms operating in Europe over privacy compliance, transparency, and data processing practices.
Since the GDPR came into force in 2018, regulators across Europe have imposed billions of euros in fines on technology companies for breaches involving unlawful data collection, inadequate consent mechanisms, and restricted user rights.
Noyb has emerged as a key enforcer of digital privacy rules in Europe, filing hundreds of complaints against major firms including Google, Meta, Apple, and Microsoft.
Analysts say the latest complaint could test whether LinkedIn’s current data access procedures and profile tracking practices align with European legal standards.
A ruling against the company could potentially trigger regulatory penalties and force changes to how LinkedIn manages user access requests and premium data features.
LinkedIn had not publicly responded to the complaint as of the time of filing this report.
