California this week joined Delaware, Illinois and Maryland in banning employers' demands for social media information from employees and job applicants.
The law prohibits employers from seeking employee login information and passwords to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, a practice that swept into the public consciousness this year and provoked outrage. A second California law also protects students at public and private universities from being required to provide social media information.
Reportedly, more than 100 cases of employers' requesting social media information from applicants and employees are now before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), while in Congress a nationwide ban is being proposed in the Password Protection Act of 2012.
“The Golden State is pioneering the social media revolution, and these laws will protect all Californians from unwarranted invasions of their personal social media accounts,” said Gov. Jerry Brown upon signing the two measures.