When and How Can Social Media Be Used Against You in an Injury Claim?

The age of social media allows us to put some of our most personal moments on display for the rest of the world to see. Individuals who do not secure their account access are particularly vulnerable. Anyone can see your last birthday bash, for instance, or when you graduated from school. Normally, this doesn’t present a problem in daily life. It can, however, affect personal injury cases in both good and bad ways.

Utilizing social media in court cases today is relatively new, and states haven’t created clear rules regarding its use as evidence. As a result, many insurance companies, defendants, and plaintiffs use social media to prove aspects of their cases, which can work against you.

Let’s say you were in a severe car accident last May. The accident caused debilitating pain in your back, making it difficult for you to go to work or resume your daily activities. If your Facebook account isn’t restricted to friends and family, an insurance company could try to use photographic evidence or posts on your Facebook wall to prove you aren’t suffering from debilitating pain. It could potentially find pictures of you smiling at the beach or sitting at the office to support this claim.

The court may or may not allow these companies to use this information, though. You could argue that the pictures are old and you just got around to posting them or suggest the information was obtained illegally. This represents only a single scenario. Defendants and insurance companies can use publicly shared video, posts under your name, and other social media information as valid proof against your injury claim.

Unfortunately, your private social media activity may not stay private during the course of an investigation or case. If the defendant provides a justification for reasonably searching through your private social media activities, the court may grant him or her the subpoena needed to uncover relevant facts.

If you read the fine print before you accept the terms of a social network account, you’ll find many reserve the right to cooperate fully with any civil or criminal investigation. They won’t protect your information, regardless of the privacy settings you placed on your account.

Cancelling your account on social media may not help you in a personal injury case either. If anyone you know posts a picture of you and tags you in it or makes a comment about their time with you, that information may also find its way into a personal injury case.

Insurance companies and defendants will fight to keep as much of their money as they can, and they’ll use social media and every other piece of evidence possible to discredit your claims. It doesn’t matter that you put on a good face for the world but suffer tremendously deep down. If they can show your injuries aren’t as serious as you claim, they may also try to prove that the entire assertion is fraudulent.

Protecting yourself from social media proof isn’t always easy, but you can take some precautions to reduce the risk. Don’t exaggerate or lie about injuries you suffered in an accident, for example. Don’t use social media to discuss your injury or celebrate milestones in your recovery. Do set your social media accounts to private, and avoid accepting requests to connect from strangers. Ask all your friends and relatives to refrain from posting any information about you.

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