LinkedIn is a popular social media platform used primarily for professional networking and career development. With over 810 million members worldwide, LinkedIn connects professionals across various industries and career levels.
One of the ways members interact on LinkedIn is through direct messaging. The messaging system allows members to communicate privately with connections and non-connections on the platform. It can be used for having professional conversations, sharing articles or insights, networking, and more.
However, sometimes a member may wish to block another user on LinkedIn if that person is sending unwanted messages or spam. Blocking prevents the blocked member from viewing your profile or posts, sending invites, and messaging you on LinkedIn.
But what exactly happens to the message history when you block someone? Are the past messages between the two accounts deleted? Can the blocked member still read the old messages after being blocked?
Let’s analyze this in detail:
What happens to your sent messages when you block someone?
When you decide to block a connection on LinkedIn, all the messages sent by you to that connection do not get deleted automatically. Your messages remain visible from your side in the message thread, but the blocked connection can no longer see or read them.
Essentially, the message thread between you and the blocked account is disabled. While you can still see your old sent messages, the blocked connection does not have access to the thread anymore and cannot read any past or new messages within it.
From their end, it appears as if the message thread has been deleted. But that is not the case. The thread still exists but has been made inaccessible to that specific blocked account.
What happens to received messages when a connection blocks you?
Similarly, when someone blocks you on LinkedIn, you can no longer view the messages that person sent you in your chat history. The message thread vanishes from your account, and you’re unable to retrieve those messages.
So all the messages you received from that connection prior to getting blocked will also become inaccessible to you.
Essentially, blocking works both ways – the blocked person loses access to sent messages, and the blocker loses access to received messages. The entire messaging history between the two accounts becomes invisible and inaccessible to both parties.
Can you recover or view messages after blocking someone?
Since the message thread is disabled and not actually deleted, is there any way to recover or view the messages again if you change your mind later?
Unfortunately, there is no way to retrieve the messages between you and the blocked account once you unblock them. The message history does not automatically reappear.
LinkedIn does not have a feature to recover old messages between blocked connections. The only way would be if one of you took screenshots or exported the conversation before blocking. Barring that, the message history is permanently inaccessible going forward for both parties.
Blocking someone on LinkedIn is permanent, and so are its effects on your messaging history and interactions with that person. LinkedIn’s Help Center recommends blocking someone only if you wish to permanently end communication with them on the platform.
Does the order of blocking matter for message visibility?
No, it does not make any difference whether you block the person first or they block you first.
In either case, the message thread will become invisible to both, and neither party will be able to view past messages anymore. The messages do not get selectively deleted based on who blocked whom.
Even if you had blocked the person after sending your last message, they would not be able to view that last message. Blocking immediately cuts off access to the message thread irreversibly.
Can you see when you were blocked by someone?
LinkedIn does not directly notify you if you have been blocked by another user. However, you can infer it if you are unable to view a connections’ profile or send them messages.
Here are some signals that indicate you may have been blocked:
– The members’ profile shows an error or does not exist when you click on it.
– Your messages to them remain marked “sent” but show no read receipts.
– You cannot start a new message thread with that connection.
– Your comments or posts tagged to them disappear.
– You disappear from that members’ connections list.
– You can no longer interact with their posts or see future updates.
If you notice these changes in your interaction with another user, it’s a clear sign they have blocked you on LinkedIn. There is no official notification, but the changes make it quite evident.
Can you tell if someone has blocked you preemptively?
No, there is no way for you to tell if someone has blocked you preventatively if you haven’t interacted with them yet.
Since LinkedIn does not show blocked accounts to the other person, you have no means of checking if you have already been blocked by a member you found through search or elsewhere.
You’ll only know if you try to view their profile or send them a message and get an error, indicating they have blocked you preemptively.
Other than that, you have no way to confirm if someone has blocked you proactively unless they directly inform you themselves. You cannot view a list of members who have blocked you on LinkedIn.
What happens when blocked members try to interact with you?
When a blocked member tries to interact with you, here is what happens from their end:
– They will be unable to view your profile or posts.
– Any messages sent to you will show as sent from their end but will not reach you.
– Mentions of you in their posts will not be visible to other viewers.
– They cannot see any comments you post on common connections’ updates.
– They get removed as a follower if they followed you.
– Your name disappears from their connections list.
Essentially, everything related to you becomes invisible or inaccessible to them on LinkedIn. You have mutually blocked each other’s existence on the platform.
Can you temporarily restrict someone versus blocking permanently?
LinkedIn currently does not have an option to temporarily restrict or limit interactions with a connection. The only available option is to block them completely.
Some users feel permanently blocking someone is too extreme compared to just limiting their interactions or hiding their content temporarily.
But LinkedIn’s design is binary as of now – you either block someone fully or allow full access. There is no middle ground or temporary restriction feature to limit communications.
What happens when you unblock someone on LinkedIn?
If you change your mind later and decide to unblock a connection, here is what happens:
– They regain access to view your profile and posts again.
– You both can see each other in your connections lists again.
– You can view their profile and future updates again.
– Any comments on common connections’ posts become visible again.
– They can follow you or tag you in posts if they want.
However, the message history does not get restored automatically. Both of you will still be unable to view the previous messages from before blocking. You will have to start a new message thread which will begin fresh.
Unblocking only reconnects your profiles on LinkedIn going forward. It does not undo the blocking effects on past interactions and messaging history.
Can you block someone who has already blocked you?
Yes, you can block someone even if they have already blocked you first on LinkedIn.
Even though their profile and posts are already hidden from your end once they block you, you can still navigate to block them back through your connections list.
Blocking them essentially seals off any chances of future communication more permanently in case they ever unblock you first.
When both people have blocked each other, it minimizes the chances of accidental future contact on LinkedIn if one person happens to revoke their blocking later.
Conclusion
In summary, when you block a connection on LinkedIn, it permanently disables messaging between both of you. Neither party can view past messages anymore once blocked. The message history cannot be recovered even after unblocking.
Blocking also restricts various other interactions, like profile viewing, commenting, tagging each other in posts, etc. Essentially you become invisible to each other on LinkedIn unless one person unblocks the other.
But blocking is irreversible for past messaging history. The only way to possibly retrieve older messages is if you have archives or screenshots saved externally before blocking. So block connections wisely as blocking has lasting effects on your mutual interactions and visibility.