Social media helps people connect with one another. It can be beneficial for businesses by helping them target potential customers. Social media has also become a critical form of evidence that plays a role in many modern lawsuits.
Those intending to file a civil lawsuit because of an injury or a dispute with a neighbor about a boundary issue may be able to glean important evidence from social media. At the same time, they may put themselves at a disadvantage due to what they do on social media before and during the civil litigation process.
What things do you need to consider about social media and its impact on lawsuits when contemplating filing a civil action?
Social media is a treasure trove of evidence
Since its rise to mainstream popularity years ago, social media has begun to dominate how certain people interact with each other and businesses. Recent research indicates that over two-thirds of adults in the United States routinely use social media.
Many of them share information that could be relevant during a legal conflict. Lawyers representing both plaintiffs and defendants in civil cases often perform in-depth reviews of social media use. They may even request formal discovery access by submitting requests directly to social media companies.
In such cases, private information shared via social media, including private messages and content that a user has deleted or made private, can become part of the of evidence admitted into evidence. The more that people engage on social media, the easier it may be for the other party in a lawsuit to find evidence to use against them.
Social media can endanger a case
Most people use discretion to limit what they share on social media once they recognize they need to go to court. This is as true for those preparing for a divorce action as it is for those preparing to sue a neighbor.
People need to understand that very little of what they share on social media is kept private, regardless of what privacy settings they have in place. They never know when someone in their social circle might screenshot a message or a posting, and repost it or share it with someone else.
The less that people use social media while engaged in a legal controversy, the better their chances are of avoiding making disclosures which could endanger their chances of winning. Even seemingly innocent content, such as photos shared by friends and funny memes, could affect the outcome of a pending or future legal action.
Those who use forethought and discretion in their social media postings will be best protected from having their content come back to haunt them later. Those who search for postings made by an opposing party in a lawsuit can sometimes benefit from content which is highly damaging to the opposing party’s credibility. Social media evidence plays an increasingly larger role in civil litigation, which means that people need to use forethought and discretion when they use social media, especially is they’re already involved in a legal action.