Can Facebook posts get you denied entry?

Waitwaitwait, some employers ask for your Facebook password as a condition of the job? Am I understanding that correctly? Is that even legal?

I was asked for mine when applying for a government/city job a few years back just to work part time in a library.

I would just say I didn't have a facebook... it's absolutely none of their business.  I'm a teacher and we're allowed facebook as long as it's private.

I was asked for mine when applying for a government/city job a few years back just to work part time in a library.

Yea, that's not an employer I would want to work for. That's like asking for someone's email password, or really, a key to your home for them to do a search, as giving someone your facebook password allows them to see things like private messages. I'm sorry but everyone is entitled to a private life as long as they keep it private. Wow, I'm more than a little bit horrified and terrified at that idea.

Yea, that's not an employer I would want to work for. That's like asking for someone's email password, or really, a key to your home for them to do a search, as giving someone your facebook password allows them to see things like private messages. I'm sorry but everyone is entitled to a private life as long as they keep it private. Wow, I'm more than a little bit horrified and terrified at that idea.

Well I decided not to apply for that very reason. I do think it should be illegal unless applying for a position that requires a security clearance. LOL All I would have been doing is restocking books. 

I would just say I didn't have a facebook... it's absolutely none of their business.  I'm a teacher and we're allowed facebook as long as it's private.

I wouldn't lie, though...as an employer, I'd be more annoyed if you didn't have a page and lied about it than if you said you did but it was private.

I do think it should be illegal unless applying for a position that requires a security clearance.

Just as an FYI: my job requires having valid government security clearance, but I was never asked for any Facebook password details or anything similar when I went through it a couple of years ago. They required various personal details about me and my family members, but nothing like Facebook passwords or anything.

I'm making a mental note to deactivate my facebook/twitter before applying for any visas.

That seems a little extreme to me, but to each her own.

That seems a little extreme to me, but to each her own.

They can always be reactivated. Despite being locked down and being fairly benign (although I post about politics fairly often), it seems worth the peace of mind.

Yes, if you're really that worried about it. But I seriously doubt that the majority of posters on here have anything on their FB page that is even slightly dodgy when it comes to applying for a visa. And in some ways, it's even more suspicious that your average young American female doesn't have a page.

But the whole premise is stupid though! anyone can get a photo of someone and make a fake facebook profile of them, then post stuff like I work for al qaeda and swastikas and stuff. How could any sane official take an online profile seriously when its so open to abuse, ok they can track ip's and stuff but even then you can use a proxy

I was asked for mine when applying for a government/city job a few years back just to work part time in a library.

But its much more prominent in the USA right? I don't think many employers in the UK bother asking for social networking details

It has happened in the UK as well.

The ACLU has taken up the case.

Organisations push and people need to push back.

But its much more prominent in the USA right? I don't think many employers in the UK bother asking for social networking details

But there have been several cases in the UK of people being fired because of things they've posted on Facebook, so even if they haven't been required to give their account details when they were hired, their posts on the sites have still had negative effects on their jobs later down the line.

Also, don't just assume that because this is a site for Americans wanting to move to the UK, everyone posting is talking about things they have experienced in the US.

Many people posting here on UK-Yankee do currently live in the UK (and some of us are from the UK originally, myself included) and so personal experiences they write about may well have happened in the UK, not in the US.

But its much more prominent in the USA right? I don't think many employers in the UK bother asking for social networking details

No, I work for a government agency and I've been throught 3 DOJ clearance & FBI checks and never have been asked for mine.