Thanks, LinkedIn, but this is not an improvement, it is politics
By: Sam Bahour
Tags: World, Israel, Business, Palestine, LinkedIn

Thanks, LinkedIn, but this is not an improvement, it is politics

Multinational firms, especially if they are global leaders, have responsibilities that impact issues like those of countries, especially since many of these firms’ services have a user base and budget sizes larger than many countries around the world. Be they multinationals or otherwise, firms can easily be manipulated to play politics if they lack clear leadership and transparent processes.

One case in point is the all too familiar country drop-down box that almost every online service utilizes when they request a user’s address or physical location. Listing physical location options, like country, can become extremely political, as is the case when trying to identify which country Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip reside, given the territory is officially and globally recognized as being under Israeli military occupation.

In the case of identifying a person’s country, firms must decide what options to give users. The logical answer to this issue is for firms to use neutral third party references to save themselves the headache of entering into politics, a realm that should not be of their concern. The issue is more than deciding not to enter politics; a wrong decision on listing country options in a drop-down box could lead, knowingly or not, to an act of discrimination.

This is not new or nuclear science. For example, when services capture U.S. residents addresses it asks for the user’s zip code. To verify a zip code, firms do not create a proprietary numbering system, they reference the U.S. postal service zip code numbering plan. Likewise, when these online services ask you to enter your telephone country code, they do not create a unique numbering plan and assign each country a code of their liking, rather they reference the country codes defined and accepted globally by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a UN agency.

This convention of adopting third party references, where available, works like a charm, except for Palestine.

So, the question that begs asking is why many of these services refuse to list the “State of Palestine” as a country. Palestine was accorded non-Member Observer State status, the same status as the Holy See, by UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/67/19 of 29 November 2012. It should be a no-brainier for firms to adopt this recognized and neutral third-party reference when listing options in their country drop-down boxes.

LinkedIn and me

For starters, let me be totally clear. I have a preference for free services, knowing very well that I become the product of the firms marketing such services, be it Google services, like Gmail, or Microsoft’s Skype, Facebook’s WhatsApp, Zoom, or LinkedIn.

One of these services that I highly respect and use daily is LinkedIn. I have been a LinkedIn user for as long as I can remember. Last week, the following email from LinkedIn showed up in my inbox.

After reading this, I sat back and just shook my head. I thought, another multinational business playing politics.

I have no way to know if this LinkedIn politicization is being done purposely or not. I sought to reply to the email to ask for clarification, but the email address this was sent from was a “no-reply” one. So, I looked for the name of the person signing the email, but it was generically signed, “The LinkedIn Team,” so there was no person to look up and direct my concerns to. Thus, I decided to write this.

To give the benefit of the doubt and remain positive, I have the following questions to LinkedIn’s management:

1. Are you aware that you are about to make this change from the “Palestinian Territory” to the “Palestinian Authority?”

2. How can an “Authority,” which equates to a government, be assigned as a “location?” Are you also making the same change to all other locations, like changing the “United States of America” to “American Administration” for those living in New York, Texas, and California?”

3. Why would your team pick and choose subjective names for “locations” when objective and internationally codified names of most locations are listed in the annals of the United Nations, as is the State of Palestine?

4. While we are at it, are you aware that East Jerusalem is legally defined as a “military occupied territory” and, as such, should be assigned to whatever location designation you choose to use — Palestinian Territory, Palestinian Authority, or the correct current term, the State of Palestine, or Palestine for short?

Your prompt answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated. Global leaders who acknowledge a mistake and make a correction are true leaders. I sincerely hope LinkedIn is one of these leaders.

I hope I can find “Palestine” as my location soon so I can remain LinkedIn and not become LinkedOut.