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Issues when mentioning URNs with special characters using LinkedIn API

Floris Ernst 10 Reputation points
2026-01-26T20:45:42.28+00:00

Dear all,

I am using the LinkedIn community management API to help me manage posting. I can successfully post new messages to LinkedIn, including images and mentions of people or companies. I followed the instructions on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/linkedin/marketing/community-management/shares/little-text-format?view=li-lms-2026-01

There is an issue, however:

  1. If the person/organization URN contains an underscore character or a left or right parenthesis, the mentions in the commentary do not get rendered but the raw text is visible in the post (i.e., @[Name](URN) instead of just a link to name's profile)
  2. When there is a left or right parenthesis anywhere in the commentary, everything from the parenthesis onwards gets dropped silently from the post.
  3. I assume that the other special characters in the mention, i.e., @ or square brackets, will also cause trouble - didn't test, though.

For now, I simply do not mention entities with "_" or "(" or ")" in their name and remove all parenthesis from the commentary. Still, it's not a nice way of doing things ...

I would appreciate support here.

Thank you,

Floris Ernst

Microsoft Advertising | Other
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  1. Floris Ernst 10 Reputation points
    2026-01-27T18:54:12.35+00:00

    Turns out that LinkedIn support was able to help me.

    If someone runs into this issue: special characters (_ | ( ) [ ] { } @ # * ~ < > \) need to be escaped in the JSON body, this also applies to characters in the mention name and URN. So, a mention of this type

    @[Name with (special) data](urn:li:person:_123as31)

    needs to be escaped to

    @[Name with \\(special\\) data](urn:li:person:\\_123as31)

    All spelled out in the little Text spec at the URL I mentioned above, just not that this also applies to mention names and URNs. Further caveat: \ gets escaped to \\\\ (four backslashes).

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  2. MS Advertising - Marvin 160 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-01-27T18:10:07.92+00:00

    Hello Floris Ernst,

    Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Advertising Learn Q&A Platform! 

    I understand that you’re aiming to ensure accurate postings on your LinkedIn account through the LinkedIn API. Since URNs are essential for correct mentions, I want to make sure you receive the appropriate support to resolve this efficiently.

    The best next step is to reach out directly to LinkedIn Ads Support, as they can look into your account settings and guide you through the process. You can create a support ticket using this link: https://www.linkedin.com/help/lms. Once submitted, their team will be able to provide tailored assistance and ensure everything is configured correctly.

    We appreciate your patience and want to make sure you get the help you need to get this working without delay.

    Thank you so much and have a great day!

    Kind regards,

    Marvin| Microsoft Advertising Support Specialist | 1-800-518-5689

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