Judge allows depositions of LinkedIn executives in antitrust case
A San Francisco judge let plaintiffs depose Reid Hoffman and other LinkedIn leaders in a monopoly suit that says the platform dominates professional networking and overcharges premium users.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler let plaintiffs question several current and former LinkedIn executives under oath, including co-founder Reid Hoffman, in a San Francisco antitrust case accusing the Microsoft-owned network of dominating professional social networking.
The ruling rejected LinkedIn’s effort to block testimony from five current and former top executives, including chief executive Daniel Shapero. Plaintiffs in the proposed class action want sworn answers on how LinkedIn set its strategy, defined its market and responded to competition, a phase of discovery that could force internal thinking into the open.
The lawsuit, Crowder et al. v. LinkedIn Corporation, was filed Jan. 13, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. It alleges that LinkedIn monopolized the professional social networking market, and one summary of the complaint says the company holds 97% market share and overcharges premium subscribers.
That pricing claim is likely to sit near the center of the testimony fight. If plaintiffs can link LinkedIn’s market position to the way it sells premium products, they will have a stronger case that the company’s dominance did more than attract users, it also gave LinkedIn room to charge more than a competitive market would allow.
The case has already weathered another setback for LinkedIn. In December 2025, a federal judge rejected a LinkedIn antitrust settlement, citing “serious problems,” leaving the dispute alive and making the later push to shield executives from questioning even more consequential.
Discovery now gives the plaintiffs a path to test not just market share, but the mechanics of power inside a platform that sits at the center of recruiting, networking and professional visibility. For employers and job seekers, the question is whether LinkedIn’s reach reflects ordinary success in a competitive field or the kind of gatekeeper power that antitrust law is meant to check.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
