Last revised on May 5, 2023
1. Overview
LinkedIn’s mission is to connect the world’s professionals to allow them to be more productive and successful. We believe that ads delivered through our service should be relevant and useful to our members. These Advertising Policies will help you to determine whether your ad is appropriate for LinkedIn and our members.
2. The Ad Review Process
In order to maintain the professionalism and integrity of LinkedIn, ads will not run until approved through our ad review process, which checks your ad against the policies we detail below. We strive to review ads as soon as possible and usually do so within 24 hours.
3. What To Do If Your Ad Is Rejected
If your ad is rejected, we’ll provide the reason in Campaign Manager when you hover over the ad status and also via email. If you prefer, you can edit your ad to comply with our policies and resubmit. If you have further questions, please contact us.
4. Prohibited Content
Professional Community Policies. Ads must comply with the LinkedIn Professional Community Policies.
Illegal Products, Services and Activities. Ads for illegal products, services and activities are prohibited. Ads must comply with all applicable laws, including laws covering what content is allowed in ads and how ads are targeted.
Discrimination. LinkedIn does not tolerate discrimination based on personal attributes such as age, gender, gender identity, disability, religion, ethnicity, race, color, national origin or sexual orientation. Ads must comply with this as well as all laws, including laws that prohibit discrimination in connection with education, housing, credit and employment.
Offensive to Good Taste. Ads must not be offensive to good taste. This means ads must not be, for example, hateful, vulgar, sexually suggestive or violent. In special circumstances, LinkedIn may determine that an ad that was acceptable is no longer appropriate as we update our policies to reflect new laws or clarify our position.
Fraud and Deception. Ads must not be fraudulent or deceptive. Your product or service must accurately match the content of your ad. Any claims in your ad must have factual support. Do not make deceptive or inaccurate claims about competitive products or services. Do not imply you or your product are affiliated with or endorsed by others without their permission. Do not advertise prices or offers that are inaccurate - any advertised discount, offer or price must be easily discoverable from the link in your ad.
Trademark Infringement. Ads must not use trademarks belonging to third parties unless express permission has been granted by the trademark owner. You should not use trademarks, logos, service marks or company names in a way that would be confusing to the user, or imply an affiliation or endorsement when there is none. Trademark owners can send concerns about the use of their trademarks to https://help.linkedin.com/app/ask/path/TS-NTMI.
Copyright Infringement. Ads must not use copyrights belonging to third parties unless express permission has been granted by the copyright owner. If you believe in good faith that your copyright has been infringed, please visit our Copyright Policy to learn how to submit a notice of copyright infringement.
Fake Documents and Related Services. Ads for fake documents and related services are prohibited.
Tobacco Products. Ads for tobacco products are prohibited. This includes ads selling or promoting, directly or indirectly, any tobacco products (such as cigarettes, pipes, cigars), alternative tobacco products (such as e-cigarettes or vaporizers), or any related equipment that facilitates the use of tobacco. Lawful products and services which promote quitting tobacco are permitted.
Illicit or Recreational Drugs. Ads that promote the sale or use of illicit or recreational drugs are prohibited.
Weapons, Fireworks and Other Violent Products or Services. Ads related to the promotion, use or sale of weapons, ammunition, fireworks or any other violent product or service are prohibited.
Adult Content. Ads containing adult content, including ads for adult products and services, are prohibited.
Counterfeit. Ads for counterfeit goods are prohibited.
Gambling and Sweepstakes. Ads related to gambling or sweepstakes of any kind are prohibited.
Occult Pursuits. Ads for fortune telling, dream interpretations and individual horoscopes are prohibited, except when the emphasis is on amusement rather than serious interpretation.
Health Matters. Ads promoting unrealistic or misleading claims about health improvements, including related to diet and weight loss, are prohibited. Ads promoting unhealthy or unsafe behaviors, such as excessive consumption of an item, are also prohibited. LinkedIn reserves the right to restrict advertising related to any health matter.
Affiliate Advertising. Ads related to affiliate advertising are prohibited. Publishers may not run in-stream video ads within their sponsored content without LinkedIn's prior authorization.
Political. Political ads are prohibited, including ads advocating for or against a particular candidate, party, or ballot proposition or otherwise intended to influence an election outcome; ads fundraising for or by political candidates, parties, political action committees or similar organizations, or ballot propositions; and ads exploiting a sensitive political issue even if the advertiser has no explicit political agenda.
Sensitive Events. LinkedIn does not allow ads that are inappropriate during the time of or in relation to a tragedy, disaster, or similarly sensitive event.
Hacking, Cracking and Circumvention. Ads that promote products or services for hacking, cracking or circumvention are prohibited.
Incomplete Ad. Incomplete ads will be rejected. If your ad is rejected as incomplete, please finalize it and resubmit.
5. Restricted Content
Alcohol. Ads for alcoholic products are restricted and only available in certain countries. Such ads must not target members under 25 years of age. If you are interested in placing an ad related to an alcoholic product please contact our ad sales team here.
Animal Products. LinkedIn reserves the right to limit ads for animals or animal products. Ads for products related to endangered species are prohibited.
Dating Services. Ads for dating services are restricted. Such ads may never be targeted at members under 18. The dating services must be legal in the applicable jurisdiction and must not engage in “escort type” services where any person is compensated to participate in the date. LinkedIn reserves discretion to determine the appropriateness of the service.
Soliciting Funds. Ads for soliciting funds are restricted. LinkedIn allows ads that solicit funds only if they comply with applicable laws and would qualify as tax deductible or charitable in the applicable jurisdiction.
Prescription Drugs. Ads promoting prescription drugs are restricted and require prior authorization. Ads may only promote prescription drugs in the following jurisdictions: United States. Such ads must not target members under 18 years of age. Learn more.
Over-the-counter drugs. Ads promoting over-the-counter drugs are restricted and require prior authorization. Ads may only promote over-the-counter drugs in jurisdictions where it is legal and must adhere to all applicable laws and regulations. Such ads must not target members under 18 years of age. Learn more.
Medical Devices and Medical Treatments. Ads for medical devices and medical treatments are restricted. Ads may only promote medical devices and medical treatments where it is legal and must adhere to all applicable laws and regulations. Such ads must not target members under 18 years of age. Learn more.
Short-term Loans and Financial Services. Ads for payday loans, paycheck advances or similar short-term loan products are restricted.
Cryptocurrency. Ads related to the buying, selling or trading of cryptocurrencies are restricted.
6. Safety and Privacy
Harm to LinkedIn or its Members. Ads must not promote or endorse products, services or actions that would result in a breach of LinkedIn's User Agreement or Privacy Policy, or that may result in harm to LinkedIn or its members.
Fair and Legal Billing Practices. The products and services advertised in your ad must have fair billing practices and follow all applicable laws.
Malicious Software/Browser. Do not use an ad to promote, install or distribute viruses, worms, spyware, malware or other malicious software. Software should only be installed with the permission of the user and should be readily removable by the user. Software features should be made apparent to the user, with no undisclosed features or functions that could harm the user or the user’s data, software or devices. Do not use any browser flaws/exploits to install software or bypass standard browser security restrictions.
Phishing. Do not use an ad to promote a website that tricks a user into providing personal or other information.
HTTPS and HTTP Support. If you collect sensitive information on the site linked to the ad, you must use HTTPS. Sensitive information includes, but is not limited to, financial info, government-issued identification info, medical info, login info such as usernames and passwords and sensitive characteristics such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sexual orientation, criminal record, information regarding minors or students.
Link Behavior. Do not deceive, confuse or otherwise degrade the experience of members who click on your ad. The domain of your Display URL must match the domain of your Destination URL. All members must be sent to the same destination URL and landing page from a click on your ad. Do not send members to a landing page that generates a pop-up. The landing page must allow users to navigate away from the page, including via the browser’s ‘Back’ button, and return to the page that the ad was displayed on.
Privacy. Advertisers are responsible for complying with applicable privacy and data protection laws and regulations. Do not use tracking cookies to track users across sites without full disclosure and consent of the users (e.g. do not use an “ever cookie” or “zombie cookie”).
Targeting on Sensitive Characteristics. Ads must not target based on sensitive categories such as health, political affiliation/beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical affiliation/beliefs, alleged/actual commission of a crime, sexual behavior/orientation, trade union membership or income.
7. Editorial
Use of “LinkedIn” Trademark. You may use the phrase “find me on LinkedIn” in accordance with our trademark guidelines, but otherwise do not use “LinkedIn” or refer to LinkedIn (the corporation, brand or site) in your ad. Do not imply affiliation with or an endorsement by LinkedIn.
Appropriate Language. Use language appropriate for professionals and aspiring professionals in your ad.
Standard Text and Contact Information. Use correct spelling and grammar in your ad. Use standard capitalization--with the exception of valid acronyms, words should never be fully capitalized. Use standard punctuation--do not repeat punctuation and do not use more than a single exclamation point in your ad. Do not use a symbol (i.e. *, @) in a manner that differs from its standard meaning. Do not use a symbol in replacement of a letter ('cl!ck'). Do not use excessive emojis, animated gifs or unrelated hashtags in your ad. Do not repeat words or phrases in your ad. You may include a single link and either a single email address or phone number in your ad.
Supported Languages. LinkedIn only allows ads to be posted in supported languages.
8. Miscellaneous
Local Legal Requirements. Advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws, regulations, industry codes, and rules, including local legal and regulatory requirements. For example, UK advertisers should follow the CAP Code administered by the Advertising Standards Authority. Ads targeting China should follow our China-specific Ads Policies.
We reserve the right to reject, approve or remove any ad for any reason, in our sole discretion, including in response to user feedback. We may suspend or terminate accounts tied to businesses or individuals who repeatedly violate our Advertising Policies or other terms.
We periodically update our policies, so please check in and review them regularly. We reserve the right to change our advertising policies at any time without notice.
We may run pilot ads campaigns.