Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) opened an investigation Tuesday into whether LinkedIn misled Texans who paid for Premium subscriptions by promoting listings that allegedly did not correspond to active openings or positions employers intended to fill.
The Office of the Attorney General issued a Civil Investigative Demand seeking documents, data and internal communications related to LinkedIn’s advertising, marketing, verification practices and representations about Premium subscriptions and job listings.
Paxton targets paid subscriptions
Paxton’s office identified LinkedIn Premium Career and Premium Business in its July 14 announcement. LinkedIn lists Premium Career plans starting at $39.99 per month and Premium Business plans starting at $69.99 per month.
LinkedIn describes Premium Career as a job-seeker plan and Premium Business as a service for professionals and small-business leaders. The company says Premium Career subscribers are 2.6 times more likely to get hired on average, based on LinkedIn data from January 2022.
Paxton’s office alleges that LinkedIn does not independently verify the hiring status of most listings and does not tell Premium users that some postings may be inactive, unfilled or unrelated to an employer’s immediate hiring plans.
“I will use every resource available to my office to help job-seeking Texans find and secure real employment opportunities,” Paxton said in the release. “LinkedIn has a duty to provide the services it advertises and ensure that consumers paying for Premium subscriptions are receiving access to legitimate job postings. I am investigating whether LinkedIn has misled Texans by promoting and profiting from ‘ghost jobs’ while marketing itself as a trusted platform for finding employment.”
The announcement did not include findings of wrongdoing or announce a lawsuit. The state is seeking information through the CID as it evaluates LinkedIn’s practices.
How common are “ghost jobs”?
The attorney general’s office defines a ghost job as a listing that does not correspond to an actual opening or that an employer posts without plans to fill soon.
The release cited unnamed studies estimating that ghost jobs account for one-fifth to one-third of online listings. Separate Greenhouse data found that 18% to 22% of jobs posted on its hiring platform in a given quarter qualified as ghost jobs. The Greenhouse figure does not establish the share of LinkedIn listings that fall into that category.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, concerns over ghost job listings have circulated for years as job seekers question whether some advertised positions remain active.
LinkedIn says its verification badges confirm certain information about a company and the person who posted a job. The company also notes that a badge does not mean an applicant is more likely to be hired, and not every listing carries one.
Provided by Dallas Express
