LinkedIn is testing a no-politics setting for some US users' feeds that filters out content about political parties and candidates, election outcomes, and more
CEO Ryan Roslansky lays out new features arriving on the professional networking platform, including a no-politics button and live video and audio events
Wall Street JournalJoanna Stern
Context & Ripple Effects
LinkedIn has been drifting away from virality for years: after a 2018 investigation found hyperpartisan posts and fake accounts spreading on the platform (an investigation into rising hyperpartisan content), it pledged to reweight its feed toward niche professional interests over viral posts. The no-politics test extends that arc from ranking to an explicit user-facing control — filtering parties, candidates, and election outcomes out of some US feeds entirely.
The move also lands amid external pressure on LinkedIn's identity as a workplace-adjacent space: China's demand that it suspend new sign-ups over objectionable posts showed how political content creates geopolitical exposure, while Facebook's decision to wall off political discussion inside its own Workplace tool signaled that employers increasingly want work platforms kept politics-free.
First-order effects
Some US users gain a one-button way to strip political parties, candidates, and election coverage from their feeds — the first time LinkedIn makes depoliticization an explicit setting rather than an implicit ranking choice.
Creators and commentators whose reach depends on political posting lose access to opted-out audiences, tightening the squeeze begun when LinkedIn reweighted its algorithm toward niche professional interests.
Second-order effects
Rival professional networks and workplace tools face pressure to match the control: Facebook already carved politics out of its internal Workplace, and a user-facing no-politics button raises the bar for what 'professional' feeds are expected to filter.
Advertisers buying against LinkedIn's feed get a cleaner, less volatile context on opted-in users, reinforcing the platform's pitch as brand-safe inventory relative to politically charged social feeds.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, professional platforms will converge on governance where political speech is treated as a category users can toggle off — a structural split between 'civic' social networks and 'work' networks, with each platform's moderation burden shaped by which side of that line it sits on.
For LinkedIn specifically, keeping politics out of the product reduces the regulatory and geopolitical exposure that surfaced when China forced a sign-up suspension — but it also narrows the platform's role in public discourse, a trade-off other work-adjacent platforms will have to price in.
The trend: Work-focused platforms are institutionalizing the separation of professional feeds from political discourse, turning depoliticization from a moderation problem into a user-controlled product feature.
A new setting that removes political posts from your feed. Users that are civil to each other. Let's face it, LinkedIn is the best social network right now. Yes, LINKEDIN. My column and exclusive interview with the CEO of LinkedIn: https://www.wsj.com/...
What I appreciate about @LinkedIn is that it's not trying to pretend to be it's something it's not. Not trying to revolutionize XR, not trying to decide elections or cut off opinions. We talk business and look for jobs and talent. https://twitter.com/...
Is LinkedIn the best social media platform? CEO Ryan Roslansky lays out new features arriving on the professional networking platform, including a no-politics button and live video and audio events https://www.wsj.com/...
Some news from my column today: LinkedIn is testing a no-politics setting. It filters out content about political parties and candidates, election outcomes, ballot initiatives and more. You may have access to it already. https://www.wsj.com/...
“Regardless of your generation, the new features—and the fact that many people bring their best selves to this social network—make LinkedIn worthy of more of your time.” https://www.wsj.com/...
My LinkedIn feed is full of management coaches and financial advisors posting empty missives, very little substantive discourse about current events, and no avenues for people who don't have the luxury of being able to post under their real names. https://www.wsj.com/...
Thank mfing god. @LinkedIn please get rid of the humble brag posts from my feed if possible as well 🙏🏼 love the platform but these 2 points are turning it into as toxic an experience as Facebook https://twitter.com/...
Ironic that I am sharing this on Twitter but it's true. @LinkedIn IS the best social network right now. Check out this video with the company's CEO: https://www.wsj.com/... LOVE all the new features, especially the “no politics” button.
A no-politics button, live audio events, people on their best behavior: Let's face it, LinkedIn might be the best social network around, writes @JoannaStern https://www.wsj.com/...