After Elon Musk's Star Recruit's Snub, LinkedIn Under Fire Again Over Age Policy: Time For A Re-Think?

Microsoft Corporation's MSFT LinkedIn age restrictions have sparked controversy again, as after Elon Musk-led SpaceX's youngest recruit snubbed the platform, another teen entrepreneur has raised questions about the platform's policies and its impact on exceptional young talents. 

What Happened: LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, was again embroiled in controversy over its age restrictions. This time, the incident involved a 15-year-old entrepreneur who revealed that he got banned from the platform for being below the required age.

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Eric Zhu, the teen entrepreneur who co-founded Aviato, a new-age startup that makes sourcing 100X easier for venture funds and an investor at Bachmanity Capital, took to Twitter to share screenshots of what transpired. 

The screenshots appeared to suggest that a new employee reached out to Zhu, telling him that he was trying to tag him on an appreciation post on LinkedIn but couldn't do so, suggesting that the entrepreneur might have been banned. 

Zhu later got affirmation that he was banned from the platform because LinkedIn requires the "minimum age" of the user to be 16 years or older. 

This isn't the first time LinkedIn has been called out on this policy. Earlier this week, 14-year-old tech prodigy named Kairan Quazi — who defied the odds to secure a coveted position as a software engineer at Musk’s SpaceX — snubbed LinkedIn for deciding to restrict his account and denying access to the professional network. 

Why It's Important: LinkedIn's age restriction policy has become a hot topic among netizens following these revelations from young but exceptional talents. 

Many other teenagers also took to social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to share their stories of getting banned by the networking platform. 

People went as far as questioning whether this is the "best use of their (LinkedIn) time" and shouldn't the platform "change" its policies to keep up with the next generation. 

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