Troubling Trend of Potential Employers Demanding Facebook Logins Persists

A few isolated stories have popped up over the years wherein a job applicant is told to supply logins for Facebook, enabling potential employers not only to invade the applicant’s privacy, but that of the applicant’s friends, family, former co-workers and significant others.

And while the reaction to such a request may widely be assumed to be “hell to the no,” remember that discrimination laws exist for a specific reason- like to prevent those in power from wielding it in such a way that individuals have no power to protest such a vastly overreaching demand. Were no one to speak up about the inappropriateness of opening your most private communications to all and sundry, such a practice would quickly become standard and no one would have privacy anymore.

BusinessWeek recently did a lengthy profile of the practice, citing specific incidents in which candidates were rejected or turned away upon refusal to provide the info. Justin Bassett, a statistician out of New York City, is one of the dissenters who spoke to the site:

“I think asking for account login credentials is regressive,” he said. “If you need to put food on the table for your three kids, you can’t afford to stand up for your belief.”

Have you been asked to violate Facebook’s Terms of Service and allow a third party to log in to your account in order to get a necessary job?

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Tags: Facebook, Facebook and Job Applicants, Facebook and Privacy, Social Media and Careers

About the Author

Kim LaCapria Kim LaCapria is a writer and editor based in New York. A longtime information junkie, she began blogging full-time at the Inquisitr in 2009. Prior to that, she worked as a marketing assistant in the cosmetics and skincare industry. In addition to her writing for fortytwotimes, she also writes for Medacity and The Inquisitr. Kim is also a contributor for SocialNewsDaily, Indyposted, and TotallyMoney. In the past, she contributed to Lipstick and Luxury and managed social media accounts and blogs for several small and mid-sized businesses.