As LinkedIn continues to expand beyond just a professional networking platform into a more social media-oriented site, one new feature that many users are utilizing is LinkedIn video calling. With working remotely becoming more common, platforms like LinkedIn integrating video calling capabilities makes it easy to conduct online meetings and interviews without needing to switch between apps.
However, as video calling increases in popularity on LinkedIn, an important question arises around privacy: Are LinkedIn video calls private? Do they use end-to-end encryption? And can LinkedIn access the contents of your video calls?
Quick Answers
- LinkedIn video calls use end-to-end encryption by default to keep calls private.
- LinkedIn states they cannot access the contents of encrypted video calls.
- However, LinkedIn can access certain metadata and analytics about calls.
- Users can disable end-to-end encryption in their LinkedIn settings.
- Experts recommend keeping end-to-end encryption enabled for maximum privacy.
How LinkedIn Video Calling Works
To understand the privacy protections for LinkedIn video calls, it helps to first look at how LinkedIn’s video calling feature works under the hood.
LinkedIn integrated video calling capabilities through their acquisition of a company called Whereby in 2021. Whereby had developed a browser-based video calling platform that enabled users to easily start and join video calls through a web link.
LinkedIn adopted this technology to introduce native video calling within the LinkedIn platform and mobile apps. Some key attributes of LinkedIn video calling include:
- Video calls can be initiated from LinkedIn Pages, Groups, Events, ads, profiles, etc.
- Users can join video calls directly within the LinkedIn interface or app without any downloads or plugins.
- Video calls support up to 100 participants.
- Calls can last up to 24 hours before automatically disconnecting.
End-to-End Encryption
One of the most important privacy features of LinkedIn’s video calling architecture is that it uses end-to-end encryption by default for all calls.
End-to-end encryption means the video and audio contents of the call are encrypted on the caller’s device and decrypted on the receiver’s device. The encrypted data is transmitted securely in between.
This is important because it prevents even the platform provider (LinkedIn) from accessing the actual contents of the video call while it is in transit between users.
Room URLs
Another key technical detail is that each LinkedIn video call has a unique room URL that participants navigate to in order to join the call.
For example, a call might have a URL like: https://www.linkedin.com/video/ABCD1234
The room URL along with end-to-end encryption ensures that only intended recipients who have the room URL can join the video call and participate.
Can LinkedIn Access My Video Calls?
Given LinkedIn video calls use end-to-end encryption, this means even LinkedIn cannot access the raw video or audio contents of a private encrypted call.
According to LinkedIn’s help documentation, “the encrypted content of your meetings and calls made with LinkedIn’s video solution can’t be accessed by LinkedIn.”
However, there are some caveats…
Metadata and Analytics Access
While LinkedIn cannot see inside an encrypted call, they do have access to certain metadata about calls:
- Who participated in the call
- When the call occurred
- How long the call lasted
- Device and software details of call participants
LinkedIn states this information may be used for analytics purposes to improve their video calling features.
No End-to-End Encryption
Additionally, LinkedIn also gives users the option to disable end-to-end encryption on a per-call basis.
From LinkedIn’s help documentation:
When end-to-end encryption is disabled for a meeting, LinkedIn has access to the meeting’s contents for moderation purposes.
So if end-to-end encryption is ever disabled, either intentionally or inadvertently, LinkedIn could technically access the contents of those calls.
Law Enforcement Requests
Finally, like most technology platforms, LinkedIn may provide contents of calls to law enforcement if compelled by a legal request like a subpoena or court order.
However, if end-to-end encryption remains enabled, even LinkedIn itself doesn’t have access to call contents to share.
How LinkedIn Video Call Privacy Compares
To put LinkedIn’s video calling privacy protections in context, it helps to compare with other popular video conferencing and calling platforms.
| Platform | End-to-End Encryption | Can Platform Provider Access Contents? |
|---|---|---|
| On by Default | No, when E2E encryption enabled | |
| Zoom | Optional Add-On | Yes, when E2E not enabled |
| Google Meet | Not Available | Yes |
| Microsoft Teams | Optional Add-On | Yes, when E2E not enabled |
| FaceTime | On by Default | No |
| On by Default | No | |
| Facebook Messenger | Not Available | Yes |
From this comparison, we can see that LinkedIn’s default end-to-end encryption places it among the more private options when compared with platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Facebook Messenger.
LinkedIn’s default encryption is on par with Apple FaceTime and WhatsApp in terms of preventing the platform provider from accessing call contents.
How to Keep LinkedIn Video Calls Secure
Based on LinkedIn’s approach to video call privacy, here are some tips to keep your calls as secure as possible:
- Keep end-to-end encryption enabled. This is the most important setting to restrict access to call contents.
- Be careful sharing room URLs. Only share the video call URL with intended participants to prevent unwanted people from joining.
- Avoid discussing sensitive topics. Keep in mind calls could be intercepted by sophisticated hackers or accessed by law enforcement if legally compelled.
- Use strong passwords. Always protect your LinkedIn account with unique, complex passwords to prevent unauthorized access.
- Think before screen sharing. Anything you screen share can be seen by other participants, so avoid sharing anything confidential.
Conclusion
LinkedIn video calls use end-to-end encryption by default to provide robust privacy protections for call contents. LinkedIn cannot access the contents of encrypted video calls.
However, some metadata and analytics about calls may be accessed by LinkedIn. Users also have the option to disable end-to-end encryption if they wish.
Overall, enabling LinkedIn’s default encryption provides reasonably strong privacy assurances for video calls. But users should still be careful about sharing sensitive information, as call contents could become accessible through lawful orders or unauthorized access.
Following best practices around screen sharing, password hygiene, and link sharing will help maximize privacy further. But ultimately, the confidentiality of video call contents depends on the protections implemented by users rather than complete technological guarantees.
