Arguments for my position: Employers have the right to bar the use of social media while employees are on duty, but should not have the right to restrict the social media usage of employees who are off duty
Employers ability to restrict social media has become a hot topic in recent years. 3 key arguments in favor of restricting an employers right to police employees social media are:

• Argument #1: Employers themselves recognize issues with restricting social media use for off duty employees, and even on duty employees
  
• Research has shown that many employers choose to restrict topics related to private work information, rather than actual social media use (Van Den Burg et al. 2017)
• One article quoted an employer from their interviews: "Of course I cannot set rules for the way in which a Facebook account is used privately, people should consider that for themselves; but it should not be about clients, and be very careful about what information you share. At the very least you do not talk about your work. […] I just absolutely don’t want that". The Employer was listed only as "C" in the article (Van Den Burg et al. 2017)
  
• Argument #2: Many states have taken steps to protect employees free speech, including passing legislation to reduce an employers ability to restrict employee social media usage
  
• In the year 2012 four states in the US passed new laws to protect worker/student privacy and freedom of speech on social media (Targeted news service, 2012)
• A common theme among those laws is the prohibition of employers (or in one case educational institutions) from requesting the log in information to social media of any employee, student, or applicant (Targeted news service, 2012)
  
• Argument #3: the public majority is in favor of privacy for employees regarding social media
  
• Research found that 52.8 percent of the surveyed population found social media privacy to be very important, and an additional 41.6 percent found it to be somewhat important (Anoush et al. 2018)
• Research found that a majority of the public believes their employers are surveying their social media, and that a majority are concerned overall with potential privacy violations in regards to social media (Anoush et al. 2018)
  

Sources

• Annelieke C van, den B., and Joost W. M. Verhoeven. "Understanding Social Media Governance: Seizing Opportunities, Staying Out of Trouble." Corporate Communications, vol. 22, no. 1, 2017, pp. 149-164. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.adelphi.edu:2443/docview/1857568200?accountid=8204, doi:http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.adelphi.edu:2048/10.1108/CCIJ-06-2015-0035.Adelphi onesearch-Proquest-peer reviewed-has citations-Scholarly-Unbiased
• Mcguinness, Deirdre, and Anoush Simon. “Information Disclosure, Privacy Behaviours, and Attitudes Regarding Employer Surveillance of Social Networking Sites.” IFLA Journal, vol. 44, no. 3, 2018, pp. 203–222., doi:10.1177/0340035218785389.
  
• “State Laws on Restricting Employer Access to Social Media." Targeted News Service, Nov 26, 2012. ProQuest, https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.adelphi.edu:2443/docview/1205147670?accountid=8204