Kicked off of LinkedIn, again

In August, I wrote about how LinkedIn kicked me off their platform for four days. It’s now happened again.

When I tried to access my account this morning, I was given no explanation, just boilerplate language about how my account was “restricted”. Now I have to wait on their timeline to tell me why, and “appeal”.

This is extremely upsetting and disturbing. I cannot think of any reason why they would have done this. Since they booted me off last time (they claimed, for “unprofessional” comments”, I have been more cautious.

I can speculate as to why certain companies may not want me on the platform, but will refrain for now.

The most disturbing aspect of being kicked out is that many women I do not know contact me there because they are in the middle of a very stressful workplace situation. Just this week, two women reached out to me asking for attorney referrals. If I don’t know someone in their state, I reach out to colleagues who do. Then I share 2-3 names of attorneys they can contact. I do this because they ask me to. I get nothing back from it.

Other times, women (and some men) ask me for legal advice. If it’s simple, I will answer their questions.

Women contact me because they see me posting about workplace abuses. These women may not have anywhere else to turn. I bring value to LinkedIn in ways that helps ensure more traffic to the platform.

If you need to reach me, please email me: Michele(at) MicheleRSimon.com. I am also on Twitter.

Hoping I will be back next week, but who knows?

October 28 update: Email from LinkedIn says:

Your account has been restricted for multiple violations of our Professional Community Policies. Sharing unprofessional content that harasses or bullies others goes against our policies.

But they don’t bother to give me any examples. They say I can “appeal” by promising to abide by their policies, but how can I do that if I don’t know how I violated them in the first place?

Still waiting to hear back….stay tuned!

Additional update: So I asked them WHY, and now they say it was a “mistake”. Two days banned! Such BS