As social media continues to expand and pervade every aspect of our life, the information incidentally supplied by a potential employee on such sites as Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn, not to mention YouTube, are difficult to resist. They provide ready insight into the person’s character and judgment. Researching through a social media background check is an effective tool for prospective employers, and an emerging part of the background screening industry.
However, two U.S. Senators recently called on Social Intelligence Corp, a provider of social media employment checks, to clarify their privacy policy, writing:
“We are concerned that your company’s collection of online and social media information about job applicants and distribution of that information to potential employers may contain inaccurate information, invade consumers’ right to privacy online, violate the terms of service agreements of the websites from which your company culls data, and infringe upon intellectual property rights.”
While on the surface this congressional attention may appear troubling, in reality a “Social media search for employment” is merely the latest in “open source intelligence” tools. For decades the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) has defined a legal, investigative consumer report as having information relating to an individual’s “character, general reputation, personal characteristics, and mode of living.” These descriptions are precisely the types of information freely relayed on social media/networking sites, and precisely the sort of information an employer wants to know about an applicant. Employers not only have a right to this publicly accessible information, but may actually risk liability for failure to discover this information in the hiring process.
In general, social media searches are really no different than any other open-source intelligence and adequate regulation of their use is already addressed under existing FCRA regulations. The Federal Trade Commission later issued a private ruling to Social Intelligence Corp where it found no reason to pursue a case.
While there are still obvious limits to the lengths one can go to find information, and rules and regulations to be followed, such as a social media website’s own terms of use and privacy rules, copyright laws, and federal guidelines, it is important to remember that employment background screening is done with the individual’s written permission. Employment screening companies must have the written authority of the applicant before any search is made. As a result, applicants should be quite aware of the process and where their personal information is exhibited.
Whatever an individual chooses to display of themselves on a social media website should also be available for an employer to decide whether or not to choose them for hire. This valuable and readily available information should not be discounted by prospective employers if used according to established laws.
