What is the bcookie cookie?
The bcookie cookie is a persistent third-party tracker set by LinkedIn to uniquely identify a user's browser for platform security, analytics, and advertising.
Table of Contents
About bcookie
| Vendor | |
|---|---|
| Cookie Domain | linkedin.com |
| Category Category The functional category of the technology, such as Web Analytics or Social Media. Learn more | Advertising & Paid Media |
| Consent Category Consent Category The consent category this cookie most commonly falls under across sites we scan, normalized into four standard categories. Learn more | Targeting & Advertising |
| Prevalence | Very Common |
| Popularity Popularity Popularity is calculated from our dataset of 4.5B+ cookies analyzed across hundreds of millions of web pages. Learn more | Found on 22% of scanned pages |
| Expiration Type | Timestamp |
| Expiration Duration | 30 days |
| Party Type Party Type Whether the cookie is first-party or third-party. Learn more | 3rd-Party |
| Risk Level Risk Level Rates how sensitive the data stored by this cookie is (High, Medium, or Low) based on data classification and distribution. Learn more | High |
| Vendor Privacy Policy | https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy |
| Vendor Website | https://www.linkedin.com |
What is the purpose of bcookie?
The bcookie cookie serves as a primary browser identifier utilized by LinkedIn (part of Microsoft since 2016). It is placed on a visitor's device when they interact with a website utilizing LinkedIn's embedded services, such as the LinkedIn Insight Tag, LinkedIn Ads tracking pixels, or 'Apply with LinkedIn' social buttons. The cookie carries a unique identifier that enables LinkedIn to track the specific browser across different websites within the LinkedIn network.
Functionally, the bcookie serves dual purposes. It is heavily relied upon for security and fraud prevention to detect malicious bot activity or platform abuse. Simultaneously, it powers LinkedIn's analytics and advertising engines by monitoring user interactions, tracking conversions from ad campaigns, and building behavioral profiles for targeted marketing and retargeting efforts. As a fully persistent cookie, it generally remains active on the user's device for one year.
What are the Privacy Risks of bcookie?
Risk Level: High
The bcookie functions as a persistent, cross-site browser identifier for LinkedIn, a major social networking and advertising platform. Because the cookie is embedded on numerous third-party websites via the LinkedIn Insight Tag and LinkedIn Ads, it facilitates extensive tracking of user browsing habits across the web. This behavioral data can be directly linked to logged-in LinkedIn profiles (which contain rich, real-world professional and personal information), posing a high privacy risk due to the potential for detailed profiling and targeted advertising.
How to Remove bcookie from a Website
To remove the bcookie cookie, website administrators must locate and eliminate any LinkedIn technologies deployed on their site. This involves removing the LinkedIn Insight Tag, LinkedIn Ads tracking scripts, and any embedded LinkedIn widgets (such as social share, follow, or 'Apply with LinkedIn' buttons) from the website's source code or Tag Management System. If the site relies on third-party plugins or integrations that inject LinkedIn functionality, those must be uninstalled or reconfigured. The cookie cannot be disabled independently of these tags; therefore, complete removal of the cookie requires ceasing the use of LinkedIn's tracking and widget services entirely.