--- title: LinkedIn Tweaks Search Engine After Gender Bias Allegations description: A week after the Seattle Times reported that LinkedIn's search engine may reflect a gender bias, the networking platform announced it was changing its search algorithm. canonical: https://time.com/4484530/linkedin-gender-bias-search/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-08T21:48:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:19.983Z og:title: LinkedIn Changes Search Algorithm After Report Suggests Gender Bias og:description: The platform was asking users who searched for Stephanie if they meant Stephen og:url: https://time.com/4484530/linkedin-gender-bias-search/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39f26046a557a38e/6988a551fb4eac12a788f07f/linkedin-gender-bias-claims.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4534 og:image:height: 2550 og:image:alt: Popular Smart Phone Apps Of 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: LinkedIn Changes Search Algorithm After Report Suggests Gender Bias twitter:description: The platform was asking users who searched for Stephanie if they meant Stephen twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39f26046a557a38e/6988a551fb4eac12a788f07f/linkedin-gender-bias-claims.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LinkedIn Tweaks Search Algorithm After Report Suggests Gender Bias > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Sep 8, 2016 9:48 PM UTC  LinkedIn logos are displayed on an iPhone and computer screen on August 3, 2016 in London, England. LinkedIn logos are displayed on an iPhone and computer screen on August 3, 2016 in London, England. Carl Court—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Sep 8, 2016 9:48 PM UTC A week after the Seattle _Times_ [reported](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/how-linkedins-search-engine-may-reflect-a-bias/) that LinkedIn’s search engine may reflect [a gender bias](http://motto.time.com/4229771/rise-above-gender-bias/?iid=sr-link1), the networking platform [announced](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/linkedin-changes-search-algorithm-to-remove-female-to-male-name-prompts/) a tweak to its search algorithm. The _Times_ [reported](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/linkedin-changes-search-algorithm-to-remove-female-to-male-name-prompts/) on Aug. 31 that users who searched for at least a dozen common female names were asked if they meant to search for a male name instead — but that no such prompt appeared if users searched for any of 100 of the most common male names. For instance, the _Times_ reported, users who searched for one of the 2,500 “Stephanie Williams” LinkedIn profiles were asked if they meant to look for “Stephen Williams” instead. LinkedIn told the _Times_ in August that the algorithm was dependent upon a users’ past searches and that [gender wasn’t a factor.](http://motto.time.com/4470628/gender-bias-allegations-nih/?iid=sr-link2) [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ On Thursday, LinkedIn announced a change to its algorithm that addresses the issue, [the _Times_ reported](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/linkedin-changes-search-algorithm-to-remove-female-to-male-name-prompts/). Now, the search engine won’t prompt any user who searches for a full name if they meant to look up a different name. But a LinkedIn spokesperson reiterated [to BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37306828) on Thursday that the algorithm wasn’t ever colored by [gender bias](http://motto.time.com/4340125/girls-who-code-why-cant-girls-code-campaign/?iid=sr-link5). “Suggestions of similar spelt names that are frequently searched for on LinkedIn will follow the search query,” the spokesperson told BBC. “The search algorithm is guided by relative frequencies of words appearing in past queries and member profiles, it is not anything to do \[with\] gender.” \[[The Seattle _Times_](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/linkedin-changes-search-algorithm-to-remove-female-to-male-name-prompts/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4484530/linkedin-gender-bias-search/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4484530/linkedin-gender-bias-search/"},"headline":"LinkedIn Tweaks Search Algorithm After Report Suggests Gender Bias","datePublished":"2016-09-08T21:48:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:19.983Z","description":"The platform was asking users who searched for Stephanie if they meant Stephen","url":"https://time.com/4484530/linkedin-gender-bias-search/","keywords":["motto","Business"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39f26046a557a38e/6988a551fb4eac12a788f07f/linkedin-gender-bias-claims.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39f26046a557a38e/6988a551fb4eac12a788f07f/linkedin-gender-bias-claims.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Popular Smart Phone Apps Of 2016","caption":"Popular Smart Phone Apps Of 2016","creditText":"Carl Court—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4484530/linkedin-gender-bias-search/","name":"LinkedIn Tweaks Search Algorithm After Report Suggests Gender Bias"}}]}] ```