Luke Matthews
Posts
I have been banned 8x on LinkedIn (this is my story)

I have been banned 8x on LinkedIn (this is my story)

+ 5x your Impressions with ChatGPT

Luke Matthews
July 24, 2024

This week I got banned on LinkedIn for the 8th time.

(if you don’t care, you will have to scroll a long way past my rants today…. but I do have a ChatGPT prompt for you + a free webinar announcement)

Today I want to take the time to walk you through a few of my past bans, what happened this time and how I’m pivoting moving forward (and how you can protect yourself too)

For those of you that don’t like to read, I’ve got something exciting…..

A new YouTube series that I will be doing regularly for the rest of 2024.

It’s going to just be me sitting on my computer talking to you with no filter.

What it’s like living abroad by yourself.
My journey on LinkedIn the past 5 years.
How I’m building to hit a 1 million dollar year in 2025.

But that’s the PG stuff…

I’m also going to get way too real on my YouTube in this series.

I’m going to talk about:

Why I suck at relationships
Why I dont care if I wake up tomorrow
Why I risk my entire livelihood just to tell people to fuck off online

It’s going to be far too real. But that’s how I do it.

No fancy editing, just thoughts from a guy who’s built a successful personal brand online the past decade.

If that sounds like something you want to check out, watch this video below and subscribe to my YouTube channel.

🤖 8 Bans (a troubled LinkedIn backstory of me aka Luke Matthews)

It all started way back during the global lockdowns of 2020-2021.

This post was my second ban ever….

!!!!!TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!

Now, before I get into it, I want you to prepare yourself, okay?

I most certainly am going to offend some of you today, well, many of you today, and I have no doubt this email will cost me at least a couple hundred subscribers.

But hey fuck it right?
This is the truth.

On January 8th, 2021, I visited New York City.

At the time, global lockdowns were different in every country, and thanks to the second wave of Corona, things were just starting to get more intense.

I had already spent two weeks in quarantine in Canada thanks to being…

UNVACCINATED.

That’s right, I did not get the vaccine.
That’s right, I was punished for not taking the vaccine.
That’s right, I accepted it and followed the quarrentine rules.

(in Canada, it was 14 days isolated for us unvaccinated folks)

Now look, I’m not trying to get into a debate here today. I’m just sharing with you my story and what actually happened.

So, let’s move on to why I got banned.

It was not for speaking out against the vaccine.

I simply shared my story as an unvaccinated individual visiting New York City..

My post was removed for “community policies,” which at the time was basically anything at all that did not submit to Microsoft and its very pro-vaccine stance.

I was banned for 3 days because of this post.

My second official ban.

I was mocked, harassed in my DMs, and shamed for weeks/months and the rest of the lockdowns. Interesting looking back now, isn’t it?

Everyone’s been really quiet since the CDC declared COVID was another variant of the flu… That is exactly what I said in my post.

Anywhoodles, I reposted this post a year later with receipts…

Why? Cz I’m a petty person of course.

🤖 The other bans…

After this ban, I know my account was flagged. I got reported for trivial things and had my account restricted multiple times in 2021 and 2022.

Things like:

Calling Matt Barker unpleasant to look at. .
Giving away a pizza to my audience. .
Saying Frick in a comment..

Unfortunately, I managed to create quite a lot of enemies in the feminist movement.

But why Luke?

Well, that’s another long story….

(watch the YouTube rant for full context)

But basically I got my start on social media on Instagram in 2016.

I was in the sustainable fashion space and basically was a model for clothing brands. They were all eco-friendly and sustainable in nature.

Click to follow me on IG…. (might restart there too who knows)

My partner at the time and I were trying to support artisans in third-world countries and bring awareness to how corrupt the fashion industry was and is…

We made a blog about it, and it took off pretty fast.

We started getting featured and getting sent clothes to take pictures of and write articles about.

It very soon became a profitable side hustle for me and a full-time job for my then-partner.

The interesting thing about that journey for me from 2016 to 2020 was I didn’t share any personal content.

It was just all about the brands and magazine style.

So everyone I got to know assumed that I agreed with their ways of life and political stances…

The sustainable scene is very left-leaning politically…

As I’m sure you gathered, I am not, lol.

I love trucks, country music, sports, and freedom, I’m a passport bro, and I like doing whatever the fuck I want with my life.

That doesn’t align with most of that niche…

So once those creators started coming over to LinkedIn from Instagram and finding me…

They were shocked.
They hated my content.
They started reporting me and sending nasty DMs.

This went on basically until this year..

PS Here’s a funny picture of one of my bans. (this one was deserved)

The truth is John was a jerk and had been harassing me for over a year in the comments. Instead of blocking him I would debate his bald ass.

This time?

I snapped and lost my cool and he reported me.

Oops.

🤖 Why I quit LinkedIn for 3 months in 2023

I was banned in early 2023 for calling my rival Matt Barker unpleasant to look at.

It was just a bit of friendly banter really.. (Matt and I are friends)

However, some of his fans didn’t like my comment and reported it. I was banned.

I received a final warning from LinkedIn despite this ban being overturned… Here’s the DMs from them about it.

So naturally, after this ban, I wasn’t sure I could even post again.

I quit posting on LinkedIn.

It wasn’t until May 2023 that I decided to risk it all and start posting again.

My fellow LinkedIn hustle queen Lara Acosta was a big part of why I came back, as she kept harassing me to post again and supported me when I started.

I had a great trip to Bosnia with her and visited Jasmin Alic, and he was a big part of my return and leveling up my content game.

I behaved myself and removed most of the humour and edge from my personal brand for basically a year.…

But last month, well, basically, I got bored.

🤖 The latest ban…

On Saturday, I was tagged in a piece of content.

A designer made me a website.

I get a few of these a week.
They are made poorly.
It's a bad strategy.
I got tired of it.

The designer wrote a misleading hook, and he made it seem like I asked him to do it for me.

He asked his followers to spam me in the comments.

I decided to comment my actual thoughts, which apparently is too much on LinkedIn…..

The words that sparked outrage were:

"I don't appreciate when designers do this, I would hire (x person) if I wanted a website.

Folks rushed to defend the designer and were offended that I wasn’t more thankful for the free gift.

One person started demanding that I be more kind.

I refused.

They demanded I consider my platform.

I laughed and simply said I don't care what anyone thinks. I will do me, be me, and speak my mind.

I got shadowbanned a few minutes later and lost the ability to message, comment, or post.

(he must have reported me)

Thankfully for me the saga is almost over the time. I got my account back, minus 137k followers, though.

But I’ve been in contact with LinkedIn, and they said I should get all my followers back tomorrow.

So here’s hoping its a happy end to my 8th ban.

🤖 5x your Impressions with ChatGPT

Use ChatGPT and these 5 steps:

Use less than 750 characters in your post
Use a "how to" or "how I" positive hook
Introduce a bold opinion in the rehook
Use a high-quality picture of yourself
Got to ChatGPT and write the post

Use this prompt:

𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦:

1. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 (𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤)
2. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 "𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰" 𝘰𝘳 "𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐" 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬
3. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰
4. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 500 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴
5. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘥𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵
6. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 (𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦)

AI writing can literally save you hours of time.

But editing after prompting is a must.

🤖 COMMERCIAL BREAK: AI Writing made Easy

Click the image to learn more about writing with AI..

This is what most people get wrong about writing with AI...

It's not about getting the AI to sound exactly like you.
It's about saving time and getting a post 70% done.

Most people waste too much time writing posts on LinkedIn.

Save your valuable time, learn to write with AI, and focus on meeting new people and selling your product/services.

——

AI WRITING made EASY is a 30 lesson course for entrepreneurs who want to save time and money by using AI to write elite LinkedIn content.

If you buy the course you get:

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It’s finally time for me to take on YouTube seriously.

I’m going to be diversifying my efforts across multiple platforms and going all in to finish the year.

That means:

YouTube & Newsletter

But I’m also going to be investing in short form video.

Which means:

TikTok
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube Shorts

So stay tuned as I figure all this out and crank up the heat.

Cheers to a more unhinged finish to 2024 BUT less of that on LinkedIn.

(cz I don’t think I’ll survive ban number 9)

Cheers,
Luke

PS……

Lara, Jasmin, and I reunited again.