With so much information being exchanged and shared online, it makes sense to see social media as a rich source of material for both plaintiffs and defendants to use in investigations. However, social media evidence has to be gathered in a way that will hold up in court. So far there are relatively few standardized methods for gathering evidence from social media sites. Collecting evidence from social media sites can be challenging because it is constantly changing, and users can easily update and delete material that could be evidence in a case. But, once a user is aware of an ongoing investigation, he or she is under an obligation to preserve social media evidence just as if it were any other type of evidence. Additionally, requests to access an employee’s social media account(s) must demonstrate a valid reason to believe that there’s information in their profile that’s relevant to the issue under investigation. Once the evidence is gathered, it’s authenticity must be proven, given the possibility of impersonation and digital fabrication in the online world.
