LinkedIn posted a statement on its own platform on May 30, 2020, in support of the Black community and for a “just and equitable future”. The statement did not commit to any specific actions.
On June 3, 2020, LinkedIn hosted a virtual town hall about racial justice, hoping to provide a forum for LinkedIn employees to support each other, check their biases, and take action in response to police killing George Floyd. About 9,000 employees attended. According to The Daily Beast and The Verge, some employees used the anonymous question feature of the video call to make racist comments. Ryan Roslansky, who had become LinkedIn’s CEO just days earlier, posted a since-deleted LinkedIn article in which he condemned the comments, said future meetings would not have anonymous comments, and reiterated his commitment to equity and anti-racism. LinkedIn also released free diversity and inclusion courses in the wake of the incident.
On June 16, 2020, LinkedIn’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Melissa Selcher, posted on LinkedIn’s blog that LinkedIn believes Black Lives Matter and shared LinkedIn’s plan to take action against racism — namely, to build an anti-racist culture, hire more diversely, address bias and inequality in their products, and share resources for companies and individuals to increase equality.
On September 14, 2020, Roslansky posted an update on the blog about their progress on diversity and inclusion. This included a new section in users’ “My Network” tab called “Black Voices to Follow and Amplify”.
In October 2020, the New York Times and Digiday both posted articles about Black culture on LinkedIn and how members were noticing LinkedIn’s algorithm deprioritizing or shadowbanning their posts about race.