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In a surprising stunt that caught the internet’s attention, a Texas-based entrepreneur, Alex Cohen, momentarily became the CEO of LinkedIn—at least on paper. Cohen, who is the legitimate co-founder and CEO of the healthcare startup Hello Patient, took advantage of LinkedIn’s lack of verification and declared himself as the CEO of the professional networking platform.
What made this hoax even more ironic was that Cohen pulled off the title change on LinkedIn itself, a platform that prides itself on showcasing professionals’ work history and credentials. The platform did not ask for any proof before allowing him to add “CEO of LinkedIn” to the experience section of his profile.
Meanwhile, the actual CEO of LinkedIn, Ryan Rolansky, has held the position since 2020, a fact easily verifiable on his own LinkedIn profile.
No Verification Needed on LinkedIn
On March 27, Cohen took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his thoughts on the lack of verification on LinkedIn. He pointed out that despite being a professional platform, LinkedIn does not require users to prove their employment history before listing a position.
Top post on Reddit.
We did it again 🫡 pic.twitter.com/G6TEWr0p48
— Alex Cohen (@anothercohen) March 29, 2025
“Still incredible to me that LinkedIn doesn’t add any verification to prove you work or previously worked at a company. You can literally just say you worked anywhere,” Cohen wrote on X.
To prove his point, he made a bold move—he updated his LinkedIn profile to claim he was the CEO of LinkedIn. “Anyway, I’m now the CEO of LinkedIn,” he posted a few hours later, along with a screenshot of his updated LinkedIn profile, where he was listed as the San Francisco-based chief executive officer of the company.
The Internet Reacts
Cohen’s prank quickly went viral, amassing over 10 million views on X. The stunt also made it to Reddit’s homepage, where thousands of users joined in on the joke. Many commenters humorously requested him to fix LinkedIn’s existing problems while he was “in charge.”
However, Cohen’s time as the fake CEO of LinkedIn was short-lived. Realizing the potential consequences, he soon removed the false title from his profile.
“I removed it slightly after because I’d prefer not to get banned from LinkedIn,” he later admitted.
A Bigger Issue for LinkedIn?
Cohen’s experiment has highlighted a potential security flaw in LinkedIn’s verification process. While the platform provides a space for professionals to connect and showcase their careers, it does not have a system in place to verify whether users actually work at the companies they list. This loophole allows anyone to falsely claim employment at major corporations without immediate repercussions.
The incident has sparked discussions about whether LinkedIn should introduce stricter verification measures to prevent misinformation. Whether LinkedIn will address this issue remains to be seen, but Cohen’s playful stunt has certainly drawn attention to a flaw that could have more serious implications if misused by others.
For now, Ryan Rolansky remains the real CEO of LinkedIn, and Alex Cohen is back to running his actual company—but not before giving the internet a good laugh.
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