LinkedIn has reinstated the account of New York-based accountant Marc J. Strohl and reached a confidential settlement with him, following his lawsuit against the professional networking platform. The case also sparked renewed complaints from Jewish and pro-Israel users who allege selective and biased enforcement by the Microsoft-owned company
Strohl’s lawsuit, filed in a New York court two months ago, claimed that his account was suspended after he reported antisemitic posts. He alleged that LinkedIn’s content moderation team applies selective enforcement that disproportionately targets Jewish and pro-Israel users. The lawsuit further asserted that LinkedIn, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, outsources content moderation to countries with high levels of antisemitism, such as Pakistan and South Africa.
Despite the settlement, others who have faced similar suspensions continue to fight back. Eva Zelentsky, the attorney who represented Strohl, is now handling multiple cases of Jewish and Israeli users who claim to have been similarly targeted.
One of them is Gur Ben-Ze’ev, a former senior official at Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and now an investment firm executive. He describes himself as a pro-Israel influencer and advocate. Ben-Ze’ev says LinkedIn shut down his account, which had 40,000 followers, 20,000 connections, and more than 51 million views across 5,000 pro-Israel posts since Oct. 7.
Previously, Ben-Ze’ev served as the senior aide to the director of Israel’s Investment Center and later held executive roles at Discount Capital and Electra Real Estate. He claims his suspension stemmed from using the term “Palestinian terrorists,” which he insists is a factual description rather than hate speech.
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Ben-Ze’ev and Zelentsky argue that given Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by multiple countries, including the U.S., and defines itself as a Palestinian group, the term is entirely legitimate. “It seems LinkedIn either has no control over its anti-Israel content moderators within its trust and safety team—or simply has no interest in controlling them,” the two said.
Another case involves veteran Canadian television director Bob Sorger, the son of a Holocaust survivor, who says he has faced persistent harassment from pro-Palestinian users on LinkedIn. After posting a personal story about his mother’s experiences in Auschwitz, one user responded: “Good. Your mother deserved it.”
When Sorger reported the comment, LinkedIn informed him that it did not violate community guidelines. Shortly afterward, his own account was suspended after he angrily responded to the user with an expletive. “LinkedIn’s logic is backward — you can wish my mother had died in a concentration camp, but I can’t respond with anger,” he said.
“LinkedIn discriminated against, ostracized and punished me,” Sorger added. “I managed to create a new account, but its reach and visibility are severely limited, chilling my freedom of speech — exactly what LinkedIn wanted. I had to use a new email address just to get back on the platform, but I lost access to connections I built over more than a decade.”
Zelentsky, who is leading the legal efforts, argues that LinkedIn enforces a discriminatory policy that allows antisemitic and anti-Israel content to flourish while silencing Jewish and Zionist voices. She said LinkedIn claimed to be “reviewing” other account suspensions, but so far, none of her other clients have had their accounts restored like Strohl.
“If LinkedIn doesn’t correct this injustice and reinstate these accounts, we will take further legal action—this time not just against LinkedIn, but also against Microsoft, its parent company,” she said.