LinkedIn rolls out new tools to combat fake profiles and work histories

### LinkedIn Adds New Tools to Combat Fake Profiles and False Work Histories

LinkedIn is introducing new tools aimed at tackling fake profiles and inaccurate employment histories as artificial intelligence makes it easier to create convincing but misleading professional identities on the platform.

The company announced Wednesday that members will be able to vouch for the professional experience claimed by their colleagues and classmates, while businesses will receive additional controls to prevent people from falsely associating themselves with their brands.

Oscar Rodriguez, LinkedIn’s vice president of product, said the changes are intended to strengthen trust on a platform where professional credibility plays a central role.

“The backdrop for all this is that faking credibility has never been cheaper or easier than it is today,” Rodriguez told TechCrunch, adding that demonstrating authentic credentials has become increasingly important.

LinkedIn has already expanded its verification program in recent years. Rodriguez said existing verification tools have been used to verify about 115 million members and more than 700,000 companies on the platform.

The new vouching feature will allow eligible LinkedIn members to confirm that another person has the experience they claim on their profile. The feature is distinct from LinkedIn endorsements, which allow users to recommend another member’s skills.

Instead, the new system is designed to provide an additional signal that a person actually worked or studied with the individual whose professional experience they are confirming.

LinkedIn is adding several safeguards to reduce potential abuse. A person providing a vouch must have a verified profile and must have been connected to the individual for at least one year.

The company also requires the account providing the vouch to have stronger security protections, including two-factor authentication, helping reduce the possibility of compromised accounts being used to create false credibility signals.

LinkedIn is also giving companies greater control over how employment claims appear on their pages and in search results.

Under the new feature, company page administrators can remove profiles that falsely claim to work for the organization. The feature was previously tested with recruiters and company executives.

Administrators can review an account making an employment claim and manually remove its association with the company’s LinkedIn page when the claim is determined to be false.

The company is additionally testing a system that would allow page administrators to require workplace verification from people attempting to associate themselves with an organization. Such verification could include confirming employment through a company email address.

Removing an account from a company page does not alter the individual’s underlying LinkedIn profile, according to the company. The action instead removes the profile’s association with that particular company page.

Rodriguez said LinkedIn expects the new tools to provide members with additional information when evaluating the professional credentials of people they encounter on the platform.

The company said the employment-verification tools initially focus on full-time employees rather than contractors and field workers. LinkedIn plans to provide other mechanisms for legitimate contractors and workers to establish their association with an organization.

The changes come as professional networking platforms face increasing challenges from AI-generated content and increasingly sophisticated methods of creating online identities.

LinkedIn has been expanding its verification infrastructure as part of a broader effort to establish authenticity signals across its network.

Earlier this year, LinkedIn also introduced BrandWorks, a team designed to help advertisers, including companies such as SAP and Webflow, develop advertising campaigns on the platform.

According to Reuters, LinkedIn expects BrandWorks to generate an annualized revenue run rate of about $100 million in the next fiscal year, adding another area of growth as the company expands its business services.

The latest verification measures reflect LinkedIn’s broader effort to make professional credentials more difficult to fabricate while giving users and businesses additional tools to assess whether profiles and employment claims accurately represent real-world relationships.