Social Media Preservation – Top 3 Myths and Reality

Finding and preserving relevant social media can sometimes be the difference between winning and losing your case no matter which side you are on.  Here are the top 3 myths surrounding social media preservation we see most often.

Myth #1 - Social media accounts can still be located and preserved even if they have been made private or deleted.

Reality #1 – Once an account has been deleted or made private the information will no longer be available.  Another important item to note is the social media companies will not produce the content of the account via subpoena under any circumstances.  This is why it is very important to locate and properly preserve any relevant data as early as possible, which leads to Myth #2.

Pro Tip:  Social media companies and Google will provide the IP address for the login and logout of the account as well as basic subscriber information. 

Myth #2 – A screen shot of the social media post is the only thing you need to present as evidence.

Reality #2 – Without getting too far into the weeds, both the California and Federal evidence codes require the preservation to be a record which is accurate when reproduced, and in the federal evidence code case, certified by a qualified person.  Screen shots cannot be accurately reproduced. Make sure you have a qualified investigator, using proper forensic software, preserving the social media accounts. You can read up on this via the many sources I have paid for and collected over the past couple of years using this Dropbox link HERE.

Pro Tip:  Make sure whoever you use to preserve your social media can explain what a “MD5 Hash” is.  In short, it is the unique fingerprint of the social media preservation, created by the forensic preservation software.

Myth #3 – If an account is private, you can simply make a fake account and “friend” the subject to see what they are posting.

Reality #3 – This one is a big, “no-no”.  Generally speaking, you are looking for social media related to the opposing party in your cases.  This is considered communications with a represented client and needs to be avoided. 

Pro Tip: Figuring out the “friends” of a subject is not off limits.  Check those accounts to see if they have posted photos of the subject you are looking for.