Blocking someone on LinkedIn takes about 10 seconds. Here's exactly how to do it, what happens after, and how to undo it if you change your mind.
How to block someone on LinkedIn: step by step
- Visit their LinkedIn profile
- Click More (the three-dot icon below their name and headline)
- Select Report/Block
- In the popup, click Block [name] and confirm
That's it.
What happens when you block someone
Blocking is thorough. Once you block someone on LinkedIn:
- Neither of you can see the other's profile
- You're removed from each other's connections (if you were connected). Like a regular removal, you also stop following each other
- They can't message you and you can't message them
- Their posts won't appear in your feed, and yours won't appear in theirs
- They won't appear in your suggestions, endorsements, or event lists, and you won't appear in theirs
If they try to visit your profile URL directly, they'll see a 404 error. You effectively disappear from their LinkedIn.
Will they know you blocked them?
No notification is sent. LinkedIn doesn't alert them, email them, or show them any message.
The main clue is absence: your profile stops showing in their search results, your previous messages go quiet in their inbox, and your profile URL returns a 404 if they go looking. Most people won't notice unless they specifically search for you.
How to block without them knowing you visited
To block someone on LinkedIn, you have to visit their profile first. There's no way around that. But if you're worried about them seeing you viewed their page, enable LinkedIn's private mode before visiting.
Private mode hides your name and photo from anyone whose profile you visit. Even paid users with Sales Navigator won't see who came by.
To enable it: go to LinkedIn Settings, open Visibility, and switch on Private mode. Then visit the profile and block. Here's a full guide to LinkedIn private mode if you want the details.
How to unblock someone on LinkedIn
Unblocking is done through settings, not through the person's profile.
- Go to your LinkedIn Settings
- Open Visibility
- Click Blocked accounts
- Find the person and click Unblock
A couple of things worth knowing: LinkedIn caps the number of blocked accounts at 1,400. And once you unblock someone, you cannot re-block them for the next 48 hours. That's LinkedIn's way of preventing back-and-forth blocking.
Blocking vs. removing: what's the difference?
Both options create distance, but they work differently.
Blocking is for specific people causing a problem. It's mutual invisibility. They can't find you, message you, or see your content. You can't see them either. Use it for harassment, persistent spam accounts, or anyone you genuinely don't want any contact with.
Removing is for network hygiene. When you remove a connection, they can still find your profile, see your public posts, and send you a message request. You're ending the connection, not disappearing from each other.
If someone is bothering you or making you uncomfortable, block them. If you're trying to clean up a network full of irrelevant or outdated connections, removing is the right tool. And if you have hundreds of connections to remove, here's how to do it without clicking through each one manually.
Not sure which connections are worth keeping? Here's a practical guide for deciding who to remove. And if you're hitting LinkedIn's 30,000 connection limit, removing old connections is the only way to make room for new ones.
Need to tidy up your network? Install Network Cleaner and remove connections in bulk. Browse and search for free. Only pay when you're ready to start removing.