LinkedIn Locked Me Out Until I Submit to Biometric ID Verification via Persona
I just got locked out of my LinkedIn account and was shocked to find that the only way to get back in is to submit a government ID and a selfie video through a third-party service called Persona.
They don’t offer any alternative method—no email verification, no manual review, nothing. It’s either:
Submit to biometric facial recognition, or
Lose access to your account (and in many cases, your professional network).
I live in the U.S. (Indiana/Texas) and looked into the legal implications. There are some laws around biometric data, but no practical way to opt out or demand alternatives.
This seems like a huge overreach for a professional networking platform. Not everyone is comfortable handing over a face scan and ID to a third-party vendor just to keep using their profile. Especially when the reason for flagging is unclear, and there's no appeal path.
Has anyone else run into this? Are other platforms doing this now too? I'd love to hear if there's any way around this or if anyone's fought it successfully.
In a business context verification is pretty normal…Credit Checks, Letters of Credit, Insurance Binders, Bank Statements, References, etc.
LinkedIn is a business platform. Anonymity does not seem consistent with its value as such.
Anyway, Persona is going to verify your submission against what is already in its database. Which after two decades of facial recognition and fifty years of credit reports is just about everything.
But if it matters, hire a lawyer. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
> Has anyone else run into this?
Yup. Did some attempts at appeal but ended up abandoning LinkedIn for good (well, I guess it was mutual). I encourage everyone to do the same.
> Are other platforms doing this now too?
Facebook also does this (lock accounts demanding govt ID).
Both LinkedIn and FB/Insta were >1y ago.