Massachusetts State House on Social Media Privacy Protection SB 852

SIFMA provides comments to the Chairmen of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development on S. 852, An Act Relative to Social Media Privacy Protection, as drafted. This legislation would, among other things, prohibit employers from requiring that current employees provide employers with access to their personal social media accounts.

The securities industry has no interest in accessing employee accounts that are used exclusively for personal use. The problem, however, is that many people use the same account for both personal and business activity.

While S. 852 is well-intentioned, it would, if enacted, conflict with the duty of broker-dealers to supervise, record, and maintain business-related communications as required by both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and by state law.