When LinkedIn updated its privacy policy in June, there was a hint that the service would be introducing social advertising. That proved to be the case a couple of weeks later, when the company started to roll out social ads.

However, BrandImpact has brought to light an issue with these ads in that they may feature your name and profile photo in third-party advertising by default. This has raised some privacy concerns, as you may not wish to have your name and photo appearing in a company’s advertising.

If you do not wish to have your personal information included in third-party adverts, you can easily switch this off. First, click your name in the top-right corner of any page on LinkedIn and click Settings from the drop-down menu. From the Settings page, click Account and then Manage Social Advertising. Lastly, uncheck the box that reads, “LinkedIn may use my name, photo in social advertising” and hit the Save button.

Of course, LinkedIn automatically enabling the social ads for all users brings to mind another social network: Facebook. The world’s largest social network has a storied history of enabling new features for users which may compromise their privacy. Facebook has come under fire recently over its facial recognition system, which was automatically enabled for users. The European Union was among those which launched a probe into the system and Germany has called for it to be withdrawn from use in that country.