# LinkedIn wins the BrowserGate lawsuits > A judge tossed two class actions over LinkedIn scanning browser extensions, and the reason was standing, not surveillance. - Title: LinkedIn wins the BrowserGate lawsuits · Ars Technica - Summary: A judge tossed two class actions over LinkedIn scanning browser extensions, and the reason was standing, not surveillance. A privacy suit dies early if you… - Keywords: privacy, linkedin, courts, scraping, browser extensions, technology, science, wins, BrowserGate, lawsuits, Ars Technica - Source: Ars Technica — https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/linkedin-beats-browsergate-lawsuits-over-scanning-users-chrome-extensions - Published: 2026-09-10T20:55:29+00:00 - Read time: 2 min - Topics: privacy, linkedin, courts, scraping, browser extensions, technology, science ## LinkedIn beats both suits A federal judge granted Microsoft-owned LinkedIn's motion to dismiss two class actions over its scanning of users' browser extensions. ## Nobody named their own harm Judge Vince Chhabria found neither plaintiff alleged they had extensions installed that actually sent private information to LinkedIn. > had browser extensions installed that conveyed private information to LinkedIn ## Amend, but don't get hopeful Chhabria let the plaintiffs refile while saying he doubts a plausible privacy claim exists, since people install extensions voluntarily and extensions expose data by design. > it seems unlikely that the plaintiffs will ever be able to allege a privacy violation ## The plaintiffs' next move Nicholas Farrell and Jeff Ganan sued separately in April. Ganan's lawyer is weighing California state court, which has looser standing rules, or a Ninth Circuit appeal. ## Not a ruling on the merits Ganan's attorney J.R. Howell stressed the court only found it lacked jurisdiction and never decided whether LinkedIn's practices were legal. > The ruling is not a vindication of the mass surveillance program alleged in our complaint. ## Where BrowserGate came from The suits followed a report by Fairlinked, a German group that appears to share people with Teamfluence, an Estonian firm that sued LinkedIn in Munich after its CEO was banned. ## The lawyer wore two hats Howell also serves as US counsel for Fairlinked, and told the court his investigative work on BrowserGate happened before he filed Ganan's complaint. ## LinkedIn calls it payback LinkedIn argued Teamfluence markets a scraping plug-in, lost in a German tribunal, and then manufactured a privacy controversy as retaliation. > he has now embarked on an international retaliation campaign by manufacturing a fake privacy controversy ## Hypothetical snooping isn't standing Listing categories of data that could theoretically leak wasn't enough. Ganan argued the harm was "the unpermitted probe, not its yield," and the judge disagreed. > a plaintiff must identify 'embarrassing, invasive, or otherwise private information collected by' the defendant ## LinkedIn's defense: it's public The company says it only detects what extensions openly announce to every website, discloses this in its privacy policy, and uses it to block scrapers. > The information is publicly available and in no way private. ## Key takeaway A privacy suit dies early if you can't name the specific private thing that was taken from you.