Removing applications that can access your LinkedIn account: Step-by-step instructions.

Immediately after discovering that an application (FounderDating) spammed some of my LinkedIn connections—under my name, no less—I went searching for the way to revoke that application’s access to my LinkedIn account.

If you get a message like this that appears to come from a friend or colleague, be very careful . . .

. . . especially if you click through, grant access to your LinkedIn account, and complete and submit the brief recommendation questions, all the while believing that you’re helping your friend and colleague.

These are the colleagues that FounderDating pulled from my LinkedIn connections. If you chose to “vouch” for them and didn’t notice the fine print below, you probably didn’t realize that clicking “Agree” will send them spam under your name—until it’s too late.

[your first name goes here]

This is a preview of the message—the preview you didn’t see unless you noticed the small dark grey on black text below the box with your contacts.

And as if spamming your friends under your name isn’t enough, they include your strong endorsement—”I highly recommend applying”—and they do it with oh-so-hip attitude: “You can thank me later.”

To see the applications that can access your LinkedIn profile, go to “Settings” under your name in the upper right-hand corner of your browser window.

your name

Then select “Groups, Companies & Applications”

Then select “View your applications”

Check the box next to the application you want to remove—in this case, “FounderDating”—and then click on “Remove” at the bottom.

After the page refreshes, this will appear at the top.

This is the message I drafted and sent to friends and colleagues who were spammed by FounderDating’s system, all under my name. I hope you don’t find yourself in the same position of having to apologize to your friends and colleagues.