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.
There's been an uptick in the adoption of these ID verification platforms in the last 2 years across the Americas, complete with several recent legislation updates to local cybersecurity and governance frameworks, trying to harmonize or seeking compliance to NIST 800-63, CSF2, ISO 27001, etc. All pushed for during COVID times, and now culminating into new laws and industry frameworks.
Companies pushing for this already have all the onboarding flows there. Big 4 and legaltech firms already lobbied for. Banks through their smaller fintech outlets, mobile service providers and pretty much any service you could externalize ID validation that used to be in person, are ramping up adoption.
They are applying it across the board to anything that allows user-generated content under your real name, to prevent impersonation/fraud. Why do they do it with other non-essential services, like social media that doesn't take payments, I'm not sure. But there's indeed regulatory pressure across the board, which will give way into more surveillance down the road.
I would be very careful uploading personal information ID’s such as: Passports, Drivers Licenses, Birth Certificates, Social Security Cards, Healthcare Cards & Credit Cards to a third party company if you aren’t sure what they do with your data upon the completion of your account verification… Many of these companies retain all of your information & copies of your ID’s on their databases & servers indefinitely & many have had data breachs & client records stolen by hackers. With this type of personal information & actual copies of your ID’s it is very easy for them to steal your identity & apply for credit cards as you etc.
That sounds really frustrating. When I faced a tricky verification issue, using Mails ai for outreach helped me keep connections alive without relying on the platform’s strict checks. It made managing professional contacts less stressful in the meantime.
> 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.
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.