Social media has become intertwined with how some users process their emotions and other aspects of their lives. After an accident or injury, posting online may feel natural if it has become your go-to for finding support. However, you should reconsider before hitting that post button because it may hurt your personal injury case.
It’s natural for a person to seek comfort or experience an emotional outburst after a traumatic experience. However, you may want to refrain from doing so online while the defendant’s legal team likely checks your social media profiles for ways to weaken your claim.
How your posts can harm your claim
Social media posts can be presented as evidence in court. You could be inadvertently harming your case with posts that:
- Appear to conflict with your claim: Videos or photos of your recent activities may cast doubt about the severity of your injury.
- Reveal your medical status: You may want to ease loved ones’ worries by sharing updates about your health, but the defendant’s attorney could use it to downplay your injuries.
- Raise questions about your credibility: While it’s frustrating to prove an injury, especially when you need to file a lawsuit to ensure settlement, publishing hostile or inappropriate posts could portray you negatively in court. Meanwhile, deleting or editing posts might get misconstrued as an attempt to hide evidence.
While keeping your profiles private is good practice, it may give you a false sense of security. Courts can still request access to private content when they believe it can affect the case.
How to maintain your online privacy
Apart from the defendant’s attorney, your insurance company might collect evidence from your profiles to deny or reduce compensation. Maintaining online privacy helps you avoid several vulnerabilities, which you can do by:
- Staying off social media: You’re less likely to get tempted to post if you log off. You could even pick a new hobby to fill your free time and relieve stress.
- Requesting loved ones not to post about your case: The defendant’s team might also monitor posts by friends and family, so it’s essential to ask them not to share details about your injury and case.
- Limiting access to your profiles: If you haven’t yet, change your profile settings to private to limit access to your posts. It also helps to stay wary of new friend requests.
- Posting conscientiously: If you still want to maintain your social media presence, stay mindful of how others can easily take your posts out of context.
When in doubt, clear guidelines on social media use from an experienced personal injury attorney can prove beneficial. Knowing how social media use can affect your case and the best practices to mitigate such risks can strengthen your claim.
