Case 2-6 LinkedIn and Shut Out
The facts of this case are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.
Kenny is always looking to make contacts in the business world and enhance his networking
experiences. He knows how important it is to drive customers to his sports memorabilia business.
He’s just a small seller in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
One day Kenny received the following message with a request to “connect”:
“I plan to come to your sports memorabilia store in the future so I thought I’d introduce myself
first. I am a financial planner and have helped small business owners like yourself to develop
financial plans that provide returns on their investments three times the average rate received for
conventional investments. I’m confident I can do the same for you. As a qualified professional,
you can trust my services.”
Kenny didn’t think much about it. It certainly sounded legitimate. Besides, he would meet the
planner and the phone had been disconnected. He sent emails but they were returned as not valid.
No luck with text messages.
Kenny started to worry whether he ever would see his money – at least the $30,000. He was at a
loss what to do. A friend suggested he contact LinkedIn and see if it could help. His online
contact led to the following response in an email:
Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting, 4/e 2
disputes arise relating to this Agreement and/or the Services, both parties agree that all of
these claims can only be litigated in the federal or state courts of Santa Clara County,
California, USA, and we each agree to personal jurisdiction in those courts.
Questions
1. How would you characterize Kenny’s thought process in the way he responded to
requests to connect on LinkedIn?
Kenny was thinking that the more connections he had on LinkedIn, the better it was for
his business. He was not using any discernment or skepticism in accepting links. He was
2. Who is to blame for what happened to Kenny and why?
Kenny is to blame for not researching an investment firm more carefully with which he
was planning to invest $30,000. He should have checked with the Better Business
Bureau, the local Chamber of Commerce, his bank, and friends and business associates
3. What would you do at this point if you were in Kenny’s position and why?
Kenny has had a very expensive lesson in trusting someone you just met with savings.
The financial planner was not associated or employed by a firm that could have helped
Extended Discussion
Here is a story about a legal settlement reached between LinkedIn and users that relates to this
case. You may want to discuss with your students.
LinkedIn might have to pay you money for spamming your email contacts
Business Insider by Jillian D’Onfro, October 2, 2015
In 2013, a class-action lawsuit accused LinkedIn of accessing users’ email accounts without their
permission and unwittingly using their names to send email invitations to people in their address
books.
At the time, LinkedIn called many of the accusations false.
The court agreed that LinkedIn members did give the social network permission to use
their email contacts to send connection invitations.
Assuming the settlement goes through, what does that mean for a LinkedIn user?
Ethical Obligations and Decision Making in Accounting, 4/e 4
LinkedIn sent Business Insider the following statement:
LinkedIn recently settled a lawsuit concerning its Add Connections product. In the
lawsuit, a number of false accusations were made against LinkedIn. Based on its review
of LinkedIn’s product, the Court agreed that these allegations were false and found that
LinkedIn’s members gave permission to share their email contacts with LinkedIn and to