Why Social Media is a Goldmine for Evidence and Essential for Investigations

Social media has become a treasure trove for legal evidence, providing insights into to people's lives and behaviors, that can significantly impact investigations and litigation. Users are driven by algorithms to post engaging, often provocative content, leading to a wealth of incriminating evidence.

In this article we'll discuss a few recent cases that reflect how social media evidence can play an important role in establishing consumer confusion in trademark infringement lawsuits.

How do Federal agencies like NASA, the Department of Education, and the Department of Homeland Security capture and manage social media records? To uncover this, in 2022 The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) conducted an assessment of the policies, practices, and procedures related to the use of social media for 10 federal agencies, including the aforementioned and NARA itself. In September 2023, NARA released the findings in the “Managing Social Media Records: Records Management Assessment Report.”

Late in 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two robo-advisers with false disclosures. It wasn’t just the first time that the SEC went after these modern software-driven investment operations, it was yet another example of how important compliant social media use and recordkeeping is.

When it comes to social media and website archiving solutions for government organizations, pricing models can be rather nebulous. This is not an accident. Many archiving vendors use a strategy of charging a low fee for a small number of records, so initial prices seem very reasonable, but as soon as social media channels gain traction and see success, the organization suddenly finds itself being charged a lot more because of all the records created.

While there has been a lot of news centered around social media and privacy lately, there’s no denying that platforms like Facebook and Twitter continue to be incredibly useful tools for governments interested in having meaningful conversations with citizens. Used correctly, social media can increase engagement and provide a forum for dialogue that’s hard to find anywhere else.

The United States’ Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act was signed into law on January 14, 2019. This landmark piece of legislation means that government departments and agencies must comply with a new set of rules that facilitate open access to information.

Juul Labs, the maker of the most popular U.S. e-cigarette, announced earlier this month that it would be shutting down its Facebook and Instagram accounts (arguably two of the best ways to promote consumer brands to the masses) to stop advertising to teens.

Ensuring that federal agencies comply with The Federal Records Act, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) acts as the nation’s record-keeper to ensure official federal records are preserved for increased public access.

Social media is a big part of your marketing strategy, your brand awareness, and your company image. Not only so, but with the rise of chat platforms like Workplace by Facebook, Yammer & Chatter, internal social media networks (or enterprise social media networks) are integral communication tools for making company announcements, talking about upcoming events, uniting workforces and encouraging employee communication. These are all good things. However, unlike other media, social media – both public facing and internal versions are also platforms whereby the content and the conversations that take place are largely out of your control.