Facebook will fight to stop employers from requesting access to their potential employees' otherwise private accounts, the company's chief privacy officer Erin Egan announced in a statement on Friday.

The announcement follows reports that potential employers have pushed for access to applicants accounts — either asking applicants for their usernames and passwords or asking them to log into their accounts during an interview. Meanwhile, some universities require their student athletes to friend a coach or compliance officer who can keep tabs on their Facebook accounts, even if those accounts are not public.

Sharing or soliciting a Facebook password is against the social network's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

"This practice undermines the privacy expectations and the security of both the user and the user’s friends," Egan wrote on the Facebook Privacy blog. "It also potentially exposes the employer who seeks this access to unanticipated legal liability."

Among the risks to employers, Egan says, are that they will come across information such as age or sexual orientation that could open them up to claims of discrimination if the applicant doesn't get the job. Employers may also become responsible for information they uncover while pursuing private profiles, such as that which suggests a crime.

Bradley Shear, a Washington D.C., lawyer, told MSNBC earlier this month that demands for access to private social media content are a violation of the First Amendment.

"I can't believe some people think it's OK to do this,” he told the publication. “Maybe it's OK if you live in a totalitarian regime, but we still have a Constitution to protect us. It's not a far leap from reading people's Facebook posts to reading their email. ... As a society, where are we going to draw the line?"

Facebook's statement suggests that the network is willing to help draw it — even if that requires legal action.

"We’ll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges."

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