LinkedIn under scrutiny as MI5 gives rare warning over Chinese espionage on site

The government is holding talks with LinkedIn about how it can clamp down on prolific Chinese espionage activity after a rare interference alert was issued by MI5.

- Eleni Courea Dan Sabbagh

The National Protective Security Authority, which is part of the UK's security services, is speaking to social media platforms about making them less attractive to foreign agents, a government official said.

MPs and peers were told on Tuesday they faced "a covert and calculated" attempt at espionage via two LinkedIn profiles linked to the Chinese intelligence service. MI5 said the accounts posing as recruiters were trying to obtain "insider insights" into British politics. It said the profiles under the names Amanda Qiu, from BR-YR Executive Search, and Shirly Shen, from the Internship Union, were using LinkedIn to "conduct outreach at scale". Both accounts have been deleted.

A LinkedIn spokesperson said: "Creating a fake account or misrepresenting your identity is a clear violation of our terms of service. We remain focused on detecting state-sponsored abuse, and will continue to enforce our policies."

After the alert, Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, invited MPs to a cybersecurity and resilience briefing next week. Anne Keast-Butler, the director of GCHQ, and the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, Richard Horne, will join ministers at the briefing.