I quit LinkedIn after almost 20 years. As an entrepreneur, I had to find new ways for digital marketing, content distribution, and staying in touch with people.
At the end of 2025, I demigrated my LinkedIn account after nearly 20 years. By demigrating, I mean completely deleting my LinkedIn account with almost 4,000 followers.
Wait, what?
Why would anybody do this, especially an entrepreneur like me?
The Reasons
1. The AI Bullshit Infinite Loop
Microsoft owns LinkedIn.
Microsoft is a significant investor in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.
OpenAI is a significant investor in Nvidia, which manufactures AI chips.
Now it might be clear why LinkedIn offers the possibility to write your posts with AI: It fuels the Microsoft — OpenAI — Nvidia investment triumvirate. In the old days, their practice would have been called a Ponzi Scheme.
All the AI-generated bullshit posts serve the Microsoft — OpenAI — Nvidia investment triumvirate, but not the ordinary LinkedIn user. I really don’t think any leader was sitting by the sea, reflecting on his life while looking into the waves, and thereby found resilience, his inner strength. That’s just one of the myriads of AI bullshit posts on LinkedIn I saw before I deleted my profile.
I don’t think those AI bullshit posts add any value to an entrepreneur’s life.
2. The Poser Bubble
By all means, not all LinkedIn posts are AI-generated. There are still a lot of human-generated bullshit posts on LinkedIn, ranging from posting certificates for half-day courses to posing in front of a private jet with a beautiful companion.
Such poser posts distort the picture of entrepreneurial reality: All entrepreneurs struggle, and that’s normal.
And because entrepreneurs struggle, there is plenty of stuff entrepreneurs would never post on LinkedIn.
So why not focus on resolving your entrepreneurial struggles and hardships instead of scrolling through poser posts that make you feel even more miserable?
3. The Constant Distraction
Social media algorithms are designed to grab your attention. LinkedIn is no exception. It’s telling that social media companies call their customers “users” — that’s a term that originates from the drug scene. And it shows that social media is highly addictive.
If you let yourself be addicted to AI bullshit posts and poser posts, I’m not sure if you do yourself and your company a favor.
Saying no is the key to strategy: Cut distractions, focus on value, and build what matters. That’s not just true for companies, but also for individuals. For my individual strategy, I decided to say no to the distractions of LinkedIn and focus on value-add work instead.
4. The Privacy Risk
Last but not least, LinkedIn has become a privacy risk. In the age of AI, it’s easy to build a scraper tool that traverses all the LinkedIn profiles and their connections, disclosing who is well-connected in certain circles.
In my case, it’s easy for my competitors to see whether I am connected to their customers. It’s also easy to work out the key persons of our customers whom they can talk to.
As I am also an active reserve officer in the Swiss Armed Forces, a LinkedIn scraper is an excellent tool to learn about connections, hierarchies, and acquaintances within the Armed Forces. That’s not exactly helpful in times of tensions and wars.
Now add your LinkedIn profile picture to the results of your LinkedIn scraper, and an intruder will be able to find all sorts of information about you online.
The Consequences
1. Rethink Digital Marketing
Many entrepreneurs use LinkedIn as their first digital marketing tool: They create a company page and post about their company. Usually, they get likes from their personal network. But likes from your personal networks are a phantom KPI: You need to get likes from prospective customers, not your buddies.
That’s why I am firmly convinced that digital marketing needs to be more targeted than LinkedIn posts and ads. There are many better and cheaper ways to do digital marketing than LinkedIn — and they all revolve around email marketing. If you get somebody’s permission to send them emails, your communication will not drown between all the AI bullshit posts and poser posts from the rest of the world.
2. Rethink Content Distribution
It’s the same for distributing content such as articles or eBooks. You need to reach those people who are interested in your content, not those who randomly scroll through their LinkedIn feeds. It’s never been easier to build an email list and have people sign up to receive your content.
Why would you blend your valuable content between AI bullshit posts and poser posts when there is a much better, targeted way to reach your audience?
3. Staying in Touch
LinkedIn is arguably a great tool for staying in touch with people, especially those who live halfway across the world or those you haven’t seen for decades. That’s because you can message people on LinkedIn without knowing their email address, and you can use the profile picture to make sure you’re messaging the right Joe Doe.
How will I stay in touch with former colleagues without LinkedIn? First of all, ask yourself how many of your former colleagues you really want to stay in touch with. Speaking for myself, it’s not many. And for those I want to stay in touch with, I surely have their email addresses and cell phone numbers.
And if I ever want to contact somebody and I have lost their contact details, there are many other ways besides LinkedIn to find out their contact details. Most of the time, a Google search will do the trick. And if it doesn’t, always remember that no human on Earth is farther away from you than a few connections. So if you talk to a few people, chances are that you find those contact details of that former colleague, even without all the disadvantages of contemporary LinkedIn.
