How Social Media Can Threaten Your Personal Injury Lawsuit

People use social media daily to stay connected with friends and family across the globe. And while social media is a rewarding experience, it can also be the undoing of your personal injury lawsuit.

Defendants of personal injury cases are always looking for ways to prove you are not worthy of a monetary reward, and they often use social media as a way to run surveillance on you.

Here are a few reasons why social media can serve to threaten your case in a personal injury lawsuit.

Social Media Is Not Private

One of the biggest misconceptions is social media is private. You may have set all your accounts to the highest levels of privacy, but even so, that’s no guarantee only your friends or followers will see what you post. It’s very easy for friends, family members and neighbors to either post photos of you on their accounts or share your post on their pages, for example.

You may not be doing anything wrong or against doctor’s orders, but defendants will attempt to use what you post out of context and use it to make you look bad. For example, you may post a photo of you and your family celebrating a sibling’s birthday at your house. The defendant may use that smiling picture of you to show you aren’t in pain since you are enjoying yourself, even if in reality, you were forced to sit most of the day and take painkillers just to get through the event.

Social Media Posts Are Permanent

Social media posts never go away. What’s on the internet is on the internet forever. Even if you’ve deleted a social media post, someone who is skilled at internet searching will be able to discover it. Once a post goes live, it’s too late to go back and fix your mistake. In addition, if you delete your posts or accounts while you have a personal injury lawsuit, it could be seen as evidence tampering, no matter whether you did it out of malice.

Here’s How to Deal with Social Media

To put it lightly, you need to be extremely careful with social media usage when you have a personal injury lawsuit. The ideal thing to do is to not participate in social media. If you have accounts already, that’s OK. You shouldn’t delete your already-existing accounts, but you shouldn’t use them, either.

For those accounts you do have, ensure the privacy levels are as restrictive as possible, and don’t accept follower or friend requests from people you don’t know. Defendants may try to see your account by friending you or sending a follower request.

Get Good Social Media Advice from an Experienced Attorney

An experienced personal injury attorney will guide you through how to deal with social media during your case. Call the professionals at the Rosner Law Offices at (856) 502-1655 to get a free consultation.