The Texas-based founder of a healthcare startup recently took advantage of LinkedIn’s lack of verification to declare himself the CEO of the professional networking platform. For one glorious day, Alex Cohen was not just the co-founder and CEO of Hello Patient (this being his legitimate position), he is also the self-appointed CEO of LinkedIn (at least on paper).
And the real irony in this fake title drama? Alex Cohen declared himself to be the CEO of LinkedIn on LinkedIn itself. Despite being a platform where professionals list their work experience and credentials, LinkedIn didn’t ask Cohen for any proof before letting him add “CEO of LinkedIn” under the ‘Experience’ section of his profile.
The real CEO of LinkedIn, Ryan Rolansky, also has a LinkedIn profile where users can see that he's held the position of chief executive officer since 2020.
No verification on LinkedIn
On March 27, Cohen took to X (formerly Twitter) to muse about the lack of verification on LinkedIn, a platform where professionals can list their past and present jobs, education, etc.
“Still incredible to me that LinkedIn doesn’t add any verification to prove you work or previously worked at a company. You can literally just say you worked anywhere,” he wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}“Still incredible to me that LinkedIn doesn’t add any verification to prove you work or previously worked at a company. You can literally just say you worked anywhere,” he wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}“Anyway, I'm now the CEO of LinkedIn,” he added a few hours later, putting the theory to test. This time, the Texas man shared a screenshot of his LinkedIn profile where he claims he is the San Francisco-based chief executive officer of LinkedIn.
His stunt has gone viral online, with his posts racking up over 10 million views on X. On Reddit, it also reached the top of the homepage.
People in the comments section were amazed and amused, with many jokingly asking him to fix problems they have faced while using LinkedIn.
However, Cohen’s tenure as the fake CEO of LinkedIn was short-lived. He removed the position from his profile shortly afterwards fearing repercussions from the Microsoft-owned platform.
“I removed it slightly after because I’d prefer not to get banned from LinkedIn,” he explained.