I've been banned from LinkedIn and I still don't know why

13-08-2026

LinkedIn banned me yesterday

Yesterday, on the 12th of August 2026, LinkedIn banned me. Almost two decades of interactions, articles and posts all gone in an instant. The reason? None given. It's just all gone. No appeal, no chance to at least get my articles or any of my posts. LinkedIn decided to remove it all and not give me access to my data. There's no email, there's no message, just nothing. Silence.

At first, I was a bit alarmed! What did I do? I could not think of anything, but as I sat there trying to figure out how this happened, it dawned upon me that I'm asking the wrong questions here. Instead, I need to focus on what's happened to LinkedIn, and how it's become a spam-fest that, in all honesty, hasn't added value for a while now.

What did I get for all the time I put into writing articles and posts? Squat, actually. I ended up building a brand on a platform I don't control and that makes decisions without involving me. The engagement I built helped them promote ads and drive traffic to their services, not mine. In fact, looking back, it feels like I worked for free for LinkedIn to make their platform worthwhile for others to be on. And then, on a whim, all of that gets deleted.

Looking ahead

In retrospect, I haven't gotten any work or meaningful client engagement from LinkedIn for a couple of years now. Despite keeping up the effort, posting articles, engaging with posts, commenting, liking, sharing etc. I should have been building my brand somewhere that I have more control over, where the content remains mine. And then just putting links back to it all over the place, especially on sites like LinkedIn where you are just a commodity. So that's what I need to start doing: Owning my content.

Alternatives

Hilariously, I've been pondering looking into alternatives for a while now. Mostly because of the insane amount of slop and spam that has become the norm on the platform. With the microslop that is forcing AI into every corner, it has become an unrecognisable platform compared to what it was. And yes, I was lazy and didn't act on this with much energy. But hey, now I kind of have to reconsider how I do things so I might as well put serious effort into it.

I will be looking at WellFound and TopTal first. If you have suggestions, drop me an email: ewald AT nofuss DOT co DOT za, much appreciated.

As I learn more on this journey, I'll be posting blog posts, here, where I control the content, and might link to it from somewhere else. All in all, this is pretty exciting - I get to rethink my strategy and cut out something that's been bugging me a while. And it's about time I owned my content - somewhere where it benefits me first, not some faceless organisation.

If you haven't played my Ant Colony Simulator yet, why not give it a bash: Antemonium. I know, I know, shameless. Promoting my own content in my own post on my own platform. The sheer audacity of it!