Abstract
LL.M. (Labour Law)
Technological advances in communication have increased to such an extent that it influences
many personal and professional relationships, including the employer-employee relationship.
Social media has become the preferred communication method used by various people across
the world. Social media allows the users to share information, ideas, opinions and other forms
of expressions with the public across the world. Social media can be accessed through the use
of a desktop computer, tablets and the most popular of all, the smartphone. Some of the most
popular social media websites are Facebook, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Baidu
Tieba, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Viber, Snapchat, Weibo and WeChat. Facebook is a
free social networking site that allows users from across the world to communicate, interact,
share and express themselves to the public. However, Facebook is also a platform that is
often used by employees to express themselves about their employer.
Within this context the question arises: when will it be permissible for employees to express
opinions of their employer and when can it lawfully be limited without infringing on the
employees’ freedom of expression?2 The problem is further confounded when employees
access social network sites during work hours. The defences that employees often employ
after expressing opinions about their employers on social media, is that they have the right to
privacy and the right to freedom of expression. Social media has however impacted
employers in several ways, such as when the employee expresses something derogatory on
such a platform. The employer’s reputation is often linked to the employee in the public
domain. Therefore an employer’s reputation is often at stake and may have serious monetary...