As of March 12, 2024, New York state law protects employees from having their employers access their social media. The protections of employee social media accounts are not absolute. There are parameters and exceptions. Employers should familiarize themselves with the new restrictions.

Personal Employee Social Media Accounts

The law protects employees’ “personal accounts”. This term is defined to mean “an account or profile on an electronic medium where users may create, share, and view user-generated content, including uploading or downloading videos or still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, instant messages, or internet website profiles or locations that is used by an employee or an applicant exclusively for personal purposes.”

Request for Access Prohibited

The new Section 201-i of the New York Labor Law prohibits employers from requesting, requiring, or coercing any employee or applicant to do any of the following regarding personal social media accounts:

• Disclose any password or other authentication information;
• Access their personal account in the employer’s presence;
• Reproduce any photographs, video, or other information contained in a personal account that was accessed through the above prohibited means.

Employers cannot discipline or penalize employees who refuse to provide any of the above information. Similarly, they cannot refuse to hire an applicant on that basis.

Permitted Access

The rules are different for work accounts. Employers may require employees to provide usernames and passwords for “accessing nonpersonal accounts that provide access to the employer’s internal computer or information systems.”

There are several additional exceptions for accounts and devices used for business purposes. For example, employee access to certain websites may be restricted while using company equipment. However, the employer must provide prior notice and the employee must agree to the restriction. Yet, as an “exception” to the general prohibitions, it’s not clear that the law actually imposes an affirmative obligation for employers to obtain such permission as a general matter.

The law also does not prevent management from connecting with employees through social media or viewing information that is voluntarily shared or publicly available through the social media platform.

Related: New York Requires Employers to Give Electronic Monitoring Notice

Workplace Impact

Similar legislation was first introduced in the early days of social media well over a decade ago. In that sense, it is surprising New York has waited this long to get into the game. However, most employers have long since abandoned the types of measures that would be most likely to violate the new prohibitions. Nonetheless, it is important that you understand that there are now express parameters regarding employee personal social media accounts in New York.

For more employment law updates, sign up for the Horton Management Law email newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn.