LinkedIn has secured a court order against ProAPIs and joint business operator Netswift over the mass scraping of user data. The agreement, announced by a senior LinkedIn executive, blocks the firms from continuing to harvest profile information and requires them to dismantle their access to the platform.
Under the terms, the companies must stop selling or transferring the scraped data and delete what they have already collected. They are also prohibited from using fake accounts to reach LinkedIn's servers in the future.
The case underscores the growing legal pressure on data-scraping operations, particularly when they involve deceptive access methods. For LinkedIn, the order is a concrete step in enforcing its terms of service and protecting members' information from unauthorised collection and resale.