How to Stop LinkedIn From Broadcasting "LinkedIn Activity"?
- Olivia Tremblay
- Jan 19
- 5 min read
Many professionals like LinkedIn for networking and learning, but feel uneasy when a simple reaction, comment, or follow turns into a feed moment for their network. The concern is rarely about privacy in the legal sense, since most LinkedIn activity is designed to be visible. The bigger issue is amplification: LinkedIn resurfacing engagement to colleagues, clients, candidates, and extended networks.
This guide explains what “broadcasting” usually means on LinkedIn, what can actually be turned off, what cannot be fully controlled, and the most practical ways to reduce visibility while still participating
What “Broadcasting” Typically Means on LinkedIn?
When someone says LinkedIn is broadcasting their activity, they usually mean one or more of these:
Reactions (likes, celebrates, supports, etc.) appearing in other people’s feeds
Comments resurfacing beyond the original post’s audience
Follow actions showing up as “X started following Y”
The profile “Activity” section revealing recent engagement
Network notifications about profile changes (job update, headline change, work anniversary)
A useful diagnostic question is: Is the discomfort about feed visibility, profile visibility, or notifications? Each category maps to different controls and different limitations.
The One Setting Many People Should Turn Off: Profile Update Sharing
If the “broadcasting” feels like “Someone updated their headline” or “Someone added a new position,” that is typically controlled by LinkedIn’s Share profile updates with your network setting. LinkedIn explains that enabling it can generate a post in the feed, an in-app notification, or an email notification about profile changes.
Turn off profile update sharing (Desktop and Mobile)
LinkedIn’s current path is under Settings & Privacy > Visibility. The Help Center steps show it under “Visibility of your LinkedIn activity” and describe switching the toggle off.
Important: this setting is about profile edits and milestones, not about likes and comments. LinkedIn also notes that profile edits can still be visible to anyone viewing the profile, even when notifications are turned off.
What LinkedIn Does Not Offer? A Single “Stop Broadcasting Likes and Comments” Switch
Many users look for a clean toggle that disables all visibility of reactions and comments across the platform. In practice, LinkedIn is built to reward visible engagement, so there is no universal “hide my likes and comments from the feed” switch that reliably prevents feed surfacing across the entire network.
What LinkedIn does provide are controls to:
manage what appears on the profile’s Activity page,
reduce public profile visibility (especially off-LinkedIn and for non-signed-in visitors),
manage follow and connection visibility settings,
delete or unlike past activity.
LinkedIn’s own help content frames “activity” as including recent posts and profile changes, and notes that recent activity also influences what is displayed in the feed.
Quick Map: What Can Be Controlled vs. What Cannot
Concern | What can be controlled | What cannot be fully controlled |
Profile-change announcements | Turn off sharing profile edits to the network | People can still see updated info by viewing the profile |
“Activity” section exposure | Review, delete, unlike from Activity | Past engagement may still have been seen or reshared already |
Follows visibility | Control who can see members followed | Some feed surfacing may still happen depending on LinkedIn systems |
Public profile visibility | Reduce public profile sections and public visibility | Search engines may take time to refresh after changes |
Feed surfacing of reactions/comments | Reduce risk through behavior and cleanup | No guaranteed “never show my likes/comments in feeds” toggle |
Step 1: Audit and Clean the LinkedIn Profile “Activity” Section
For many professionals, the bigger risk is not that the feed might show activity in the moment. It is that someone can open the profile and browse recent comments and reactions.
LinkedIn confirms that the Activity section shows posts, comments, articles, and profile activity, and it provides steps to view it and filter it.
How to view Activity (Desktop or Mobile)
LinkedIn’s Help Center explains:
go to the profile,
scroll to Activity,
select Show all activity,
use filters to narrow by activity type.
What can be removed from Activity
LinkedIn provides official steps to delete posts, delete comments, and unlike previously liked content.
Two details matter here:
LinkedIn states users can view and delete content up to two years old from the Activity page.
LinkedIn also notes that if a user has no activity for 360 days, the Activity section is hidden from the profile.
Practical routine: many executives and client-facing professionals adopt a simple habit: open Activity once per month, remove anything that does not match how they want to be perceived, and keep the rest. (Manage shared content and profile activity)
Step 2: Reduce “Public Profile” Exposure (Non-LinkedIn and Non-Connections)
LinkedIn allows users to control which profile sections can be displayed publicly, including to people who are not signed in and to search engines. The Help Center outlines how to access Public profile & URL settings and toggle public visibility off or hide specific profile information.
LinkedIn also notes that after changing public profile settings, it may take weeks or months for search tools to reflect those changes, since LinkedIn does not control search engine refresh timing.
What this achieves: it does not stop LinkedIn members from seeing engagement, but it can reduce what non-members and off-LinkedIn audiences can view.
Step 3: Control Follow Visibility and Follower Settings
For people who notice “X started following Y” moments, LinkedIn provides specific settings:
A) Control who can see members followed
LinkedIn’s Help Center describes a setting to choose whether followed members are visible only to the user or to anyone on LinkedIn.
B) Control who can follow the account
LinkedIn also allows limiting who can follow: either everyone on LinkedIn or only connections, with the setting located under Visibility and Followers.
Practical note: in sensitive roles (legal, HR, government, regulated industries, executive assistants supporting leaders), it is common to set follows more conservatively and be intentional about who gets followed.
Step 4: Control Connection List Visibility
If the concern is not just engagement but also network visibility, LinkedIn provides a setting for who can see the list of connections.
This can reduce “network mapping” by external viewers, which is relevant for professionals in who manage client relationships, recruitment pipelines, or competitive intelligence.
Step 5: Use “Low-Visibility Engagement” Tactics (Behavioral Controls)
Because LinkedIn does not provide a universal “stop feed surfacing” toggle for likes and comments, the most reliable control becomes how engagement is done.
The highest-risk action: commenting on viral posts
Comments travel. On large creators’ posts, LinkedIn is more likely to surface “Someone you know commented…” to extended networks.
A practical decision filter:
Would this comment be acceptable if a colleague, client, or hiring manager saw it?
Is the post emotionally charged, political, or controversial?
Is the creator’s audience extremely large?
React instead of comment when the intent is lightweight acknowledgment.
Comment on smaller niche posts when visibility risk needs to be lower.
Move sensitive conversations into DMs when appropriate.
If a reaction or comment feels like a mistake, remove it from Activity (unlike or delete).
Step 6: Optional Privacy Adjacent Controls That Reduce “Unwanted Attention”
These settings do not directly stop broadcasting likes/comments, but they reduce exposure patterns that often feel similar:
Mentions and tags control: LinkedIn allows users to decide whether members can mention or tag them.
Active status: users can choose who can see when they are active, including “No one.”
A Practical Checklist
Goal | Action |
Stop profile-update announcements | |
Reduce profile exposure | |
Clean past engagement | |
Reduce follow visibility | |
Reduce network mapping | |
Prevent unwanted tagging |
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