LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits using software to scrape, copy or automate on LinkedIn without permission, and LinkedIn enforces it with account restrictions, not with lawsuits against individual users. A read-only export of search results you can already see, run by you, one page at a time, with nothing automated and nothing sent, is a different activity from bulk scraping, and this post explains the difference in LinkedIn's own words so you can decide what you are comfortable with.
By Elias Mahdavi, founder of Mastros. Builds the extensions and answers the support inbox.
A disclosure before anything else: we make a LinkedIn browser extension, so we have an interest in this question. That is the reason to quote LinkedIn directly and let you judge.
What the User Agreement says
The rules sit in section 8, "LinkedIn Dos and Don'ts", of the LinkedIn User Agreement (the version effective November 3, 2025). Under 8.2, "Don'ts", you agree that you will not:
Develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots or any other means or processes (such as crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons or any other technology) to scrape or copy the Services, including profiles and other data from the Services;
The clause names "browser plugins and add-ons", and Mastros is a browser extension. Nothing in this post is permission from LinkedIn. LinkedIn's own help page on prohibited software and extensions says the same thing in shorter words.
Three other items in the same list matter for anyone exporting data. One bans "unauthorized automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages" and to drive engagement on posts. One bans bypassing "access controls or use limits of the Services (such as search results, profiles, or videos)". And one bans selling or otherwise monetizing "the Services or related data" without LinkedIn's consent.
What LinkedIn enforces in practice
For an individual member, enforcement happens on the account. Section 3.4 reserves LinkedIn's right to "restrict, suspend, or terminate your account" for breaches of the Dos and Don'ts. In practice that shows up as verification prompts, temporary restrictions on searching or viewing profiles, and, for repeat or heavy activity, a restricted account that needs an appeal to recover.
Lawsuits have gone to companies built on LinkedIn data. The best known is hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn: the Ninth Circuit held in 2019, and again in 2022, that scraping publicly available profiles likely does not violate the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Later in 2022 the district court found that hiQ had breached the User Agreement, and the case settled in December 2022 with a judgment against hiQ. So the statute question went one way and the contract question went the other.
This is not legal advice. If your use case carries real legal risk, talk to a lawyer in your jurisdiction.
The spectrum: acting as you versus reading what you see
"Scraping LinkedIn" covers very different activities, and LinkedIn's clauses treat them differently.
At one end is software that acts as you: sending connection requests, writing messages and InMails, visiting profiles at volume so each person gets a "viewed your profile" notice, liking and commenting. This is what the "add or download contacts, send or redirect messages" item is about, and other members feel it directly: it lands in their inbox, their invitations and their notifications.
Next are server-side crawlers: tools that log in from a data center, often with your session cookie, and pull profiles at volume without you watching.
At the other end is reading what your own session already shows: you run a search on LinkedIn, the results load in your browser, and something saves those rows to a file instead of you copying them by hand. Nothing is sent to anyone and nothing on LinkedIn changes. The scraping clause still covers it on its plain words. What differs is the footprint: one person, their own searches, at their own pace.
Where Mastros sits
The Mastros LinkedIn extension sits at the reading end. It reads the results of searches you run yourself: Profile, Company, Jobs and Posts search on LinkedIn, plus Lead and Account search on Sales Navigator (see Sales Navigator export). It saves them as CSV, JSON or JSONL, in your browser, and nothing goes to Mastros servers. It paces itself, and it skips records you already saved.
To export your own 1st-degree connections, run a People search (Profile Search in the extension) filtered to 1st degree. LinkedIn also has a native route for your own network: Settings, Data privacy, "Get a copy of your data", which lets you download an archive of your connections and account data.
What Mastros does not do, by design: it sends no connection requests, messages or InMails, it is not a bot and runs no automation that acts on your account, and it never guesses or finds email addresses. If you need verified emails, enrichment or outreach sequences, it does not help, and it cannot show you anything your own LinkedIn account cannot see.
How to stay inside your comfort zone
If you decide a read-only export of your own searches is a risk you accept, these habits keep it small:
- Export your own searches. Searches you would run anyway for your own work.
- Respect LinkedIn's pauses and limits. If LinkedIn shows a verification prompt or slows your searches, stop for the day. Do not route around it; 8.2 bans bypassing use limits.
- Do not share or sell the file. Reselling or monetizing LinkedIn data is its own item in 8.2, and it is the conduct that has drawn lawsuits.
- Delete what you do not need. Set a date to clear the rows you will not use.
- Have a lawful basis. Names, job titles and employers are personal data under GDPR and CCPA even when anyone can see them. For B2B outreach in Europe that usually means a documented legitimate interest and an easy way for people to object. Public is not the same as unregulated: in 2024 Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined LinkedIn itself EUR 310 million over the lawful basis for its use of member data in advertising.
For the wider picture on terms, see data scraping vs. web scraping.
FAQ
Is it illegal to scrape LinkedIn?
In the U.S., the hiQ rulings say scraping public profiles likely does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It can still breach LinkedIn's User Agreement, which is a contract you accept when you sign up, and privacy law such as GDPR applies to the personal data you collect. This is not legal advice.
Can LinkedIn ban you for using a Chrome extension?
Yes. Section 8.2 names "browser plugins and add-ons", and section 3.4 lets LinkedIn restrict, suspend or terminate an account that breaks the Dos and Don'ts. A restriction can range from a verification prompt to a suspended account that needs an appeal.
Is it against LinkedIn's terms to export your own connections?
LinkedIn offers it: Settings, Data privacy, "Get a copy of your data" includes your connections. Exporting them with a third-party tool falls under the same 8.2 wording as any other extension, so the native route is the one LinkedIn has approved.
Does LinkedIn's API let you export profiles?
Not for general use. LinkedIn's APIs are limited to approved partners and specific use cases, and its restricted uses for marketing APIs rule out building lead lists or exporting member data. For data you can already see in your own searches, a read-only export in your browser is the practical alternative, with the caveats above.