LinkedIn Gives Companies Power to Purge Fake Employee Profiles

LinkedIn will let verified companies delete imposter employee accounts from their pages over the next few weeks, rolling the feature out to all verified companies worldwide.

The new tool gives verified employers the power to remove fake employees from appearing in the company's search results or as associated members. For the millions of professionals who use the Microsoft-owned platform as a live résumé, the change closes a long-standing loophole: until now, anyone could list a company as their employer without proof.

The business implications cut two ways. The feature stops people from padding their résumés with employers they never worked for. It also curbs a growing scam vector. When a fake recruiter approaches a user claiming to work for a major company — and their profile lists that employer — the claim appears credible. Purging imposter accounts undermines that playbook.

LinkedIn is going further. A select number of companies are currently testing a feature that would require workplace verification from anyone listing the organization as their current employer. The process is simple: users add their work email and enter a verification code sent to that address. The check would catch inaccurate employment claims even when company page admins fail to notice them.

The pilot raises an obvious problem for the gig economy. Freelancers and contractors often lack a company email address, which could lock them out of listing legitimate current experience.

LinkedIn says it has addressed that gap.

"We recognize there are groups of people (e.g. freelancers, contractors, field workers or front of house workers in retail) who might not have access to a company email address," a LinkedIn spokesperson told Fast Company in an emailed response. "There are exceptions for people with those roles at companies."

According to LinkedIn, workplace verification will not be required when users select an exempt employment type, such as self-employed or freelance.

For recruiters and hiring managers, the combined features shift verification from an ad hoc background-check task to an embedded platform function. For professionals, the signal value of a listed employer is about to rise — and the cost of lying about one is about to rise with it.