I Verified My LinkedIn Identity. Here's What I Actually Handed Over.

What You Actually Hand Over for That Blue Badge

The LinkedIn blue checkmark—proof that "this person is real"—seemed worth having in an era of fake recruiters and AI-generated profiles. Author Rene Pot tapped "verify," scanned their passport, took a selfie, and got the badge in three minutes. Then they did something almost nobody does: they read the privacy policy.

You're Not Verifying with LinkedIn—You're Verifying with Persona

Clicking "verify" redirects you to Persona Identities, Inc., a San Francisco-based identity verification company. LinkedIn is their client. You are the subject being scanned.

For a three-minute check, Persona collected:

Full name, passport photo (both sides), NFC chip data

Real-time selfie and facial geometry (biometric data)

National ID number, nationality, sex, birthdate

Email, phone, postal address

IP address, device type, MAC address, browser, OS, geolocation

Behavioral biometrics: hesitation detection and copy-paste detection during the process

They Also Ran a Background Check

Persona cross-referenced collected data against government databases, national ID registries, credit agencies, utility companies, mobile network providers, and postal databases. A three-minute LinkedIn badge check turned into a full background investigation.

Your Face Is Training Data

Buried on page 6 of the privacy policy: uploaded identity document images are used to train AI models. The legal basis is not consent—it's legitimate interest, meaning Persona decided unilaterally that this is acceptable under GDPR. Whether feeding European passports into machine learning models passes the rights-balancing test is an open legal question.

17 Companies Touch Your Data

Persona's public subprocessor list includes 17 companies (including Anthropic) that process your personal data. In any merger, acquisition, or bankruptcy, your biometric data transfers to the buyer. Law enforcement can also access it.

LinkedIn itself only receives your name, birth year, ID type, verification result, and a blurred ID image. But 17 other companies get significantly more. The badge costs three minutes. The data costs considerably more.