For eight hours a day, five days a week, your employer requires your devotion. But should that covenant be extended to what you do on your social media account?

A firm in east China's Anhui Province apparently believes it should, and has gone to what many Chinese netizens see as great lengths to back its stance.

The case concerns a woman surnamed Wang, who, three weeks into her new job, was notified by text message that she had been fired. The reason? She didn't post anything company-related on her WeChat moments, a personal newsfeed service of the most popular messenger app in China owned by behemoth Tencent.

A person who claims to be Wang's friend first shared the story on the social media forum Weibo and it soon went viral. In an interview with Lu'an New Weekly, a local paper, Wang said the company had asked employees to retweet information about the company several times a day on their personal WeChat newsfeeds, a move which could be factored in their performance assessments.

A company official later confirmed to Pear Video, a Chinese short video media company, that Wang was fired because she failed probation. Social network-posting was a factor but not the only one, the official said.

Of China's 1.3 billion population, Tencent has claimed that more than 80 percent are active WeChat users. No wonder the argument has struck a raw nerve with Chinese social media users. The hashtag #Fired for not posting on moments# soon started trending. Heated debate has taken place on where the line should be drawn between private life and work when on WeChat, with an overwhelming number of posts supporting Wang.

@ HBPT: WeChat moments is supposed to be private space. Forcing employees to post things they don't want to... the company should totally take the blame.

Many online users said they had experienced or heard similar cases but workers chose to acquiesce rather than confront the demanding bosses. Yet they would also try to outsmart their employers by separating their contacts on WeChat into several groups – and targeting work-related messages to those they work with while keeping them from families and friends.

While most netizens rooted for Wang, there were a few standing on the other side. "If you are good enough, they won't fire you anyway," one wrote.

The messenger app has been deeply entrenched in Chinese people's daily communication and WeChat groups, a multiple-person chatting space, are widely used in workplaces. Additionally, the app's huge fan base has also provided a potentially lucrative space for commercial promotions.