For Joe DiChiara, from John Alvarado

Getting your LinkedIn account back

I read what LinkedIn says about losing an account and what people who went through it report. An appeal is worth one careful try. Nobody can promise the result, and I won't.

Where you stand

  • Your account: 15 years on LinkedIn, about 30,000 followers, never a complaint, no warning, and LinkedIn wouldn't tell you why.
  • The cause is unknown. Your best guess is sharing your AI / artificial intelligence agents with accountants. LinkedIn hasn't confirmed that.
  • LinkedIn's rule: one account per person, in your real name, and none while restricted. An appeal has to be straight about anything outside that. User Agreement
  • Not known yet: what LinkedIn's notice says, when it came, and whether you have appealed. That decides where you start.

How often appeals work

  • No published number fits your case. The only figures I found are for the EU / European Union, and they mix every kind of decision, including posts and rejected reports.
  • January to June 2025: 17,289 of 58,931 appeals granted, or 29%. LinkedIn's report
  • July to December 2025: one analysis counts 70.6% of 151,062. The reporting format changed, so I wouldn't call that a trend. The analysis
  • Blogs selling LinkedIn tools quote rates up to 90% with no source. I left those out.

People who got it back

  • June 2025. Told it was permanent. On the seventh ticket they asked for a person, who restored it. Reddit
  • August 2023. Permanently restricted over invitation volume. Replied to the email and opened a ticket asking for reconsideration; restriction removed. Reddit
  • July 2023. Appeal denied during a fundraise. A day after a public post, the hold came off; the cause was a profile picture. Hacker News
  • September 2021. An attorney answered the reviewer post by post and was back in about two days. LinkedIn article

People who did not

  • July 2022. Seven-year account, repeat appeals denied. Four new accounts each restricted within 24 hours; one was reinstated, then restricted again. Reddit
  • February 2024. Changed a name, banned within the hour, appeal denied. A new account in the legal name lasted a day. Reddit
  • 2023, twice. The same automated denial after every reply; asking which rule was broken got a denial citing discrepancies. Hacker News · Reddit
  • None of those who got it back mention making a new account, and I found no first-hand report of someone who made one and then won the original back by appeal. One poster got an old account back after three months while running a new one, reason unknown. Reddit

What to do, in order

  1. Stay inside LinkedIn's rules

    Use only your own account, in your real name. LinkedIn's terms allow one account per person and none while restricted. Any duplicate account can be closed through LinkedIn's own forms.

    Sources: User Agreement 2.1 and 8.2 · duplicate accounts · privacy form

  2. Find the notice

    Search your email for every message from LinkedIn and save the exact words and dates. LinkedIn's reasons fall under content, profile, identity or automated tools. If a notice asks you to verify who you are, go to the next step. If it says permanent or appeal denied, go to the appeal.

    Sources: account restrictions · permanent restrictions

  3. Log in on your own device and follow the prompts

    LinkedIn's official team on Reddit says appeals start from the on-screen instructions, and quoted 7-10 business days in June 2025. Identity checks run through Persona and need a smartphone and a valid, unexpired government ID / identification, sometimes a photo of you.

    Sources: LinkedIn's Reddit thread · verify your identity

  4. File one honest appeal

    The form asks whether your profile name matches your ID, about travel and any VPN / Virtual Private Network or proxy, your country, and why they should look again. You sign with your full name, so answer truthfully. I found nothing showing whether disclosing anything done since the restriction helps or hurts. That is your call, but sign nothing untrue.

    Source: LinkedIn appeal form

  5. Keep it moving and ask for a person

    Reply on the same email thread, as one poster who won did, and ask which rule was applied. Posters report the form erroring out; if it does, use the contact form with issue type Account Access, Trust & Safety, and message @LinkedInHelp on X with the email on your profile, as its bio asks. Some got silence from X. The poster who won on the seventh ticket got there by asking for a person.

    Sources: same-thread reply · contact form · @LinkedInHelp on X · form errors · silence on X · seventh ticket

What to say

For the appeal form. Fill in the blanks; change anything that isn't accurate.

My name is Joe DiChiara. My account uses the email [your email]. It was restricted on [date], and your notice said: [exact words].

I don't know the cause. I had been sharing my AI agents with other accountants, so if that is the reason, please tell me.

[Only if it applies:] Since the restriction I have not always kept to LinkedIn's one-account rule. I have stopped, and I will use only this account in my real name.

I can verify my identity. Please have a person review this and tell me which rule applied.

If the answer stays no

Stop there and don't go around it. Most reports I read of a new account ended with that one restricted too. Your lead work doesn't depend on LinkedIn. Your plan also draws on brokerage sites, Realtor.com, Zillow, state licensing lookups and Google Business Profiles.

People's own posts, unverified; none predicts your result. Ignore commenters suggesting VPNs or new accounts. Not legal advice. Sources read November 8, 2026.