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LinkedIn Seeks Dismissal of Revised US Antitrust Claims

By  |  September 28, 2026
LinkedIn

LinkedIn has asked a US federal court to dismiss revised antitrust allegations accusing the professional-networking platform of unlawfully maintaining monopoly power, arguing that the plaintiffs’ latest theory conflicts with both their earlier case and conventional claims of monopolistic conduct.

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    The Microsoft-owned company filed a motion challenging amended claims focused on its application programming interface policies and cloud-computing services, according to a report by MLex. The plaintiffs accuse LinkedIn of illegally monopolizing the market for professional social networking.

    LinkedIn argues that the revised allegations rest on conduct that points toward greater competition rather than an effort to restrict it. According to MLex, the company told the court that the plaintiffs’ new theory effectively alleges that LinkedIn reduced prices for premium subscriptions while expanding output.

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    “Monopolists restrict output and raise prices above competitive levels,” LinkedIn said in its filing, as quoted by MLex. The company argued that discounting subscriptions and increasing output instead reflect competitive behavior, adding that the plaintiffs “cannot have it both ways.”

    Read more: Judge Allows Depositions of LinkedIn Leaders in Antitrust Case

    The motion represents the latest stage of litigation that has already survived an earlier attempt by LinkedIn to have the antitrust allegations thrown out.

    In March 2024, US District Judge Haywood S. Gilliam declined to dismiss earlier claims against the company, according to a separate MLex report. Gilliam found that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged anticompetitive conduct involving LinkedIn’s agreements to sell private user data through APIs, as well as an associated injury to competition.

    The amended case continues to center on whether LinkedIn’s practices in the professional-networking ecosystem amount to unlawful maintenance of monopoly power. LinkedIn’s latest filing challenges that premise, contending that the plaintiffs’ revised account of its pricing and output is incompatible with the anticompetitive behavior they allege.

    Source: MLex