Having your LinkedIn account restricted or banned permanently can seem like a nightmare scenario. Your profile and network that you’ve built up over the years is suddenly inaccessible. But what actually happens behind the scenes when LinkedIn restricts an account, and is there any way to get your account back?
Why Would LinkedIn Restrict an Account?
There are a few main reasons LinkedIn may decide to restrict someone’s account:
- Violating LinkedIn’s User Agreement – This includes things like spamming other members, scraping data, or harassing other users.
- Suspicious activity – If LinkedIn detects suspicious or fraudulent activity like fake accounts, buying and selling connections, etc.
- Court orders or legal requests – LinkedIn may be required to restrict access to accounts due to ongoing legal investigations.
Members will typically receive an email notification explaining the reason for the restriction. Some common restriction messages include “This account has been restricted due to suspicious activity. To protect the LinkedIn community, this account will remain permanently restricted.” Or “Your account has been restricted because it appears to be fake.”
What Happens When Your Account is Restricted?
There are a few key things that occur when LinkedIn restricts access to your account:
- You are signed out and unable to sign back in – Your password no longer works and you’ll see a message that the account is restricted.
- Your profile is no longer visible – Other members will get a “profile unavailable” message if they try to view your profile.
- You cannot interact on LinkedIn – Messaging connections, commenting, liking, sharing content etc. is halted.
- Loss of connections – You connections are all removed and cannot view your profile.
Essentially the account is “frozen” from your perspective. However, LinkedIn still maintains the data in case the restriction is lifted in the future.
Is a Restricted LinkedIn Account Deleted?
No, a restricted account is not the same as a deleted account. With a deleted account, all of your profile data and connections are permanently erased. A restricted account keeps that information intact, but hides your profile and prevents you from accessing it.
So in most cases of restricted accounts, LinkedIn maintains control of the account in their systems. The public profile is simply obscured from view. This allows LinkedIn to maintain the integrity of the network by restricting bad actors.
Can You Recover a Restricted LinkedIn Account?
In most cases, a permanent account restriction on LinkedIn cannot be undone. According to their policies, restricted accounts remain banned indefinitely. However, here are some potential options to recover your access:
- Appeal the restriction – You may be able to send an appeal to LinkedIn if you believe the restriction was a mistake.
- Wait for a restriction lift – In some cases, restrictions are only temporary, such as a 1 month ban.
- Create a new account – Getting around the restriction by creating a brand new account is risky, as LinkedIn may restrict the new account as well if detected.
Unfortunately, LinkedIn typically won’t reveal exactly why an account was restricted in the first place. So it can be difficult to appeal the decision unless you are aware of the specific violating behavior.
What Should You Do If Your LinkedIn Account is Restricted?
If you find yourself with a restricted LinkedIn account, here are a few tips on what to do next:
- Understand the restriction reason – If you received an email from LinkedIn, read it closely to understand why they restricted your access.
- Consider an appeal – Draft a polite and constructive appeal email to LinkedIn support explaining why you believe the restriction was unwarranted.
- Remove associated info – Delete or edit any published content elsewhere that contains links or references to your now restricted LinkedIn profile.
- Focus on alternatives – Shift your professional networking and job search to other sites like Xing, Monster, or Indeed temporarily.
- Build up a new profile – If the appeal fails, build up a new LinkedIn presence from scratch with a fresh email and identity.
Having a restricted LinkedIn account can be frustrating, but all hope is not lost. With persistence and learning from past mistakes, many professionals do successfully get back on LinkedIn or rebuild their professional brand on other platforms.
Conclusion
Getting permanently banned from LinkedIn can seem devastating at first, but it does not necessarily spell the end of your professional networking capabilities online. With the right appeal approach and focusing energy into other sites, it is possible to maintain an online presence and continue finding career opportunities even without access to your LinkedIn account.