Regulated industries like financial services, healthcare, and public service rely on social media to inform and engage their communities — but this reliance brings legal and compliance challenges. Institutions in regulated industries face immense scrutiny, which means they must have well-thought out policies to manage social media security risks.

Organizations in regulated industries are uniquely susceptible to risk on social media. Aside from the usual PR crises over toxic comment sections or virality putting agencies in the spotlight, there are other social media risks that are discussed less, like cyber fraud, data manipulation, and lost or missing social media records. These issues can have immensely negative consequences like regulatory investigations that lead to hefty-fines, open records and FOIA non-compliance, serious reputational damage and even legal action.

Still, many of the organizations facing these risks rely on screenshots for social media recordkeeping, struggle with records compliance, and are unsure of how to manage social media data responsibly and efficiently. These challenges are real and can grow exponentially, if not addressed early.

This article outlines lessons for every public service organization struggling to manage social media security risks.

Social Media Security Risks Go Beyond Hacking

Data breaches are one of the most pressing issues of our time. Last year, 1.7 billion breach notices were issued across the US. Healthcare and financial services were hit particularly hard. The Identity Theft Resource Center estimates that breaches impacted nearly every person in the country between 2023-2024.

Ransomware and phishing attacks are also becoming increasingly more sophisticated and the average cost of a data breach is inching closer to the $10 million mark. These are risks that every organization needs to prepare for proactively. But these issues are not the only social media risks they have to prepare for.

An often-overlooked challenge for organization in regulated, litigious or scrutinized industries is the handling of social media data. This could be with regard to:

• Capture: Almost all social media users have the option to modify or delete posts and other interactions. Social media platforms don’t provide this data, but under the SEC & FINRA books and records laws, and FOIA and public records laws, agencies must store any message, comment, reaction, or post, even if it has been altered or deleted, as a “record”. This also introduces challenges in eDiscovery, where evidence can disappear before it is captured, and cannot be used in court.
• Retention: There are certain technical requirements organizations must follow with regard to how and where data is stored. Rules differ from state to state as well as by industry. Many agencies need expert help and specialized tools to navigate these regulations.
• Complexity: Social media platforms generate vast amounts of data. Capturing it all manually is extremely time consuming and error-prone. When an audit or records request comes in, locating and compiling the relevant records requires extensive manual effort.

To manage social media risks, you must overcome these obstacles. Most of these challenges can be solved with the right tools and by maintaining a detailed archive of social media posts. Having a proper social media archive also ensures you can comply with records requests promptly when necessary or quickly review records during legal disputes. However, without the proper processes in place, entities risk legal exposure, compliance failures, and reputational damage.

Lost Social Media Records Can Prove Costly

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), enacted in 1966, defined a “record” as any document created, obtained, or under the control of the agency when requested.

Over time, as new communication technologies like websites, email, mobile texting, and social media were embraced by the public sector and other regulated industries, the definition of a record came to also include records created, hosted, obtained, or controlled on these digital platforms. As the latest communication technology to be widely adopted, social media recordkeeping has introduced unique compliance challenges and risks.

One of the chief concerns is that FOIA, public records laws, and financial services recordkeeping rules don’t just apply to the organization’s posts. Comments, images, videos, links, GIFs, and even reactions posted by users on the organization’s posts and pages can also be considered records. A DM request is as much a record as an email. And improper archiving of this data, manipulation, or missing data exposes you to several risks.

Regulatory risks

Regulators can demand agencies produce digital records on request. Failing to preserve social media content or provide complete records, can result in stiff penalties, audits, sanctions, or formal reprimands. In some industries, non-compliance may even lead to funding cuts.

Some relevant regulations across industries include:

• FOIA requires all government agencies, including state and municipal bodies, to comply with open record laws.
• Financial institutions must adhere to the SEC and FINRA guidelines for retaining social media content.
• Healthcare bodies are mandated by the HIPAA to store patient information while following the highest standards of privacy and security.
• Schools and universities are bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to store all student communications.

Failure to maintain comprehensive records can result in serious consequences, including fines and audits.

For example, in 2024, the FINRA levied fines of $850,000 on M1 Finance LLC for social media posts made by influencers on the organization’s behalf. The body claimed the influencers either exaggerated claims, overpromised, or misled audiences.

It wasn’t a one-off case either.

In January 2025, the SEC ordered 12 firms to pay a combined $63 million for recordkeeping failures, only going easy on the one organization that self-reported its violations. Regulators found that the firms often addressed business matters in unapproved, off-channel communications, not covered by a proper archiving policy.

Litigation Risks

While ensuring compliance, entities must also deal with the threat of litigation. Agencies can be asked to procure social media records during the eDiscovery phase of a relevant trial. Missing or incomplete records could be seen as non-cooperation, opening you up to adverse judicial decisions, higher legal costs, and, in some cases, sanctions. Clearly, comprehensive social media archiving has benefits and can have a major bearing on the outcome of a case.

Data from Deloitte suggests that 65% of all organizations use social media content in investigations supporting litigations.

Social Media Data Is Complex to Preserve and Produce

Staying compliant with recordkeeping regulations is obviously important. But the task is overwhelming for many organizations. In fact, only 30% of organizations have data retention policies for social media content that is enterprise-wide and consistently enforced.

There are millions of interactions on social media every minute, many of which are edited or deleted over time. Social media platforms are not obligated to maintain records or backups of your content. Organizations need to instead extract large volumes of data from the social media platform and store them securely.

Moreover, electronic records must be preserved in a format that cannot be altered and destroyed (in many cases, screenshots aren’t admissible in court). They must also be indexed, accessible, and readable for up to six years or more.

Managing these social media records risks manually is both time-consuming and resource-intensive. But not adequately managing these risks can make consequences much more complicated and expensive.

Take for example, a case involving Prince William County Public Schools.

It began with allegations of misconduct leveled against the district’s superintendent. A requestor asked for 10,000 direct messages to be released from his private Twitter account — data the platform doesn’t usually make public.

Adhering to this request became an expensive challenge. A forensics firm had to be engaged, costing $580 to $860 an hour. Finally, documents revealed that the school board spent $110,000 investigating the matter.

This case highlights the importance of implementing proper archiving practices. A tool that captures private messages and metadata from official accounts can save organizations hundreds of thousands of dollars and potentially uncover misconduct earlier.

An Archival Solution Can Help Ease the Process

As challenging as social media recordkeeping is, one solution is both accessible and effective: implementing a proper archiving policy with the right tools.

Pagefreezer, for instance, is a software that provides regulated organizations, legal teams, and government entities with immediate access to complete, evidentiary-quality social media, website, and chat records. Instead of merely capturing screenshots, Pagefreezer records detailed, accurate archives (including metadata) that are easy to search and review, follow formatting rules as mandated by recordkeeping regulations set forth by NARA, FINRA, SEC, FOIA and open records laws, and can easily be exported for audits, eDiscovery, or records requests.

Beyond that, Pagefreezer allows content to be viewed in its original context — crucial for cases like the one involving Prince William County Public Schools, for example. It also records activity that has since been deleted or modified, and ensures there are no gaps in records by allowing you to record data retroactively.

The National Archives and Record Administration guidelines recommend various solutions for capturing content from social media — ranging from aggregators, to tools built into the social media platform, and tools like Pagefreezer.

Pagefreezer fulfils these criteria by archiving social media content in real-time, ensuring complete and compliant records — even if posts are later edited or deleted. If your agency uses social media regularly across multiple platforms, archiving with Pagefreezer can help reduce the costs associated with regulatory response and litigation.

Request a demo to see how Pagefreezer can support your organization’s archiving needs.