add: LinkedIn username validation (social category)#264
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kaifcodec merged 1 commit intokaifcodec:mainfrom Mar 3, 2026
Merged
add: LinkedIn username validation (social category)#264kaifcodec merged 1 commit intokaifcodec:mainfrom
kaifcodec merged 1 commit intokaifcodec:mainfrom
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Uses Twitterbot User-Agent to bypass LinkedIn's anti-bot detection (HTTP 999). LinkedIn whitelists social media crawler bots for link previews, serving proper responses: 200/301 for existing profiles, 404 for non-existing ones.
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This is a smart and well-executed implementation.
Using the Twitterbot/1.0 User-Agent to bypass the HTTP 999 block is a clever approach, and the handling of status codes and edge cases looks clean.
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Summary
Twitterbot/1.0User-Agent — LinkedIn whitelists social media crawler bots for link previewsHow it works
LinkedIn aggressively blocks automated requests with HTTP 999. However, it whitelists crawler bots from social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Bing) to generate link previews when users share LinkedIn URLs. The
Twitterbot/1.0User-Agent receives proper HTTP responses instead of 999.Tested with
[✔] Found[✘] Not Found[✔] Found[!] ErrorRate limiting
In normal scan mode (1 request per module), no rate limiting observed. Bulk scanning (
-ufwith many usernames) may trigger 999 after ~3 rapid requests from the same IP.Supersedes #107.
Test plan
user-scanner -u williamhgates -m linkedin→[✔] Founduser-scanner -u totalfakeuser2026 -m linkedin→[✘] Not Founduser-scanner -u williamhgates(full scan) → LinkedIn appears in social results