The Personal Data Protection Awareness Initiative (PDPAI), a civil society organisation, has petitioned the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), accusing Microsoft-owned LinkedIn of violating Nigeria’s data protection laws through its new artificial intelligence (AI) training policy and targeted advertising by default, which allegedly expose millions of users to privacy risks.
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The group made the claim in a petition dated November 2, 2025, and submitted to the NDPC. It urged the commission to launch an immediate investigation into LinkedIn’s data-handling practices, which it said amount to a “direct infraction” on the privacy rights of Nigerian users.
At the heart of the grievance is LinkedIn’s announcement, effective November 3, that user data including professional profiles, job histories, and posts spanning decades — will now be automatically fed into AI models for training unless users manually opt out.
“This default opt-in mechanism for AI training, targeted advertising, and cookie tracking is a direct infraction of the fundamental rights of Nigerian data subjects,” the group stated in the five-page document addressed to the NDPC’s National Commissioner/CEO at the commission’s Abuja headquarters. “Silence or inactivity by the data subject shall not constitute valid consent,” the group quoted from Section 26(7)(a) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) 2023, emphasizing that LinkedIn’s opt-out model presumes agreement through user inaction a practice the civil rights group argued is “non-obvious” and burdensome.
The petition meticulously outlines alleged violations of the NDPA 2023 and the General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID) 2025, Nigeria’s foundational data protection framework. Key accusations include:
Invalid Consent: By defaulting to data harvesting for non-essential purposes like AI model training and personalized ads, LinkedIn violates the law’s requirement for “freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous” consent via affirmative action.
Privacy by Design and Default Ignored: GAID 2025 mandates that products prioritize privacy-friendly settings by default. Instead, the petition claims, LinkedIn’s system is “designed for maximum data harvesting,” forcing users to dig through complex menus to protect their information.
Purpose Limitation and Data Minimization: User data collected for “professional networking and employment opportunities” is being repurposed for global AI development without fresh consent, and vast troves of historical data are used far beyond what is “minimally necessary,” contravening NDPA Section 24.
Supporting evidence includes screenshots from LinkedIn’s policy pages (marked as Exhibits A1–A3 and B1–B4), captured on November 2, 2025, highlighting the opt-out prompts.
Beyond legal technicalities, the advocates paint a stark picture of real-world perils. Once personal details are woven into generative AI algorithms, they become permanent fixtures, impossible to fully erase even under the NDPA’s “Right to be Forgotten” provisions. This is especially alarming for sensitive career data, which could perpetuate biases in job recommendations or automated profiling.
“Default profiling exposes users to potential discriminatory outcomes in job matching, credit assessment, and professional targeting,” the petition warns, invoking NDPA Section 37’s protections against solely automated decisions with significant effects. It also flags heightened data breach risks: “Less data, less risk,” the document asserts, arguing that LinkedIn’s aggregation of legacy datasets balloons the “attack surface” for cybercriminals.
In Nigeria, where digital adoption is surging, LinkedIn boasts over 10 million users, according to recent estimates. This controversy strikes at the heart of growing concerns over Big Tech’s data practices. The petition arrives amid global scrutiny of AI ethics, including similar backlash against platforms like Meta and OpenAI for opaque data use.
PDPAI’s “prayer” is unequivocal: The NDPC should launch a probe into LinkedIn’s policies for Nigerian users, halt default processing immediately, and mandate an opt-in model for all such activities. Enforcement could include sanctions and redesign orders to embed “Privacy by Design” principles.
“We trust the NDPC will take prompt action to safeguard the fundamental privacy rights of Nigerian citizens,” the petition concludes, with copies routed to relevant stakeholders.
The NDPC has yet to respond publicly, but sources close to the commission indicate that complaints of this magnitude involving multinational Big Tech companies could escalate to international coordination, potentially involving Microsoft’s regional offices.
As Nigerian regulators flex their muscles under the two-year-old NDPA, this case could set a precedent for how African nations police AI-driven data exploitation. For LinkedIn users in Nigeria, the message is clear: Check your settings before your career story becomes someone else’s algorithm.
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