You may have heard about the pitfalls of using social media irresponsibly during a divorce proceeding. However, the same is true if you’re involved in a personal injury claim. The defense is constantly on the lookout for any opportunity to decrease the amount of money it has to pay out, which could mean combing your social media profiles for any evidence to use against you.
The following are a few tips to manage your social media activities during this time:
- Disable your accounts. This is the most direct step to take. If you have a blog, it is easily searchable through Google and could contain details about your everyday life. Your Facebook profile should at least be limited so that only your friends can see it, so if you don’t want to disable the account, at least make your privacy settings as strict as possible.
- Never post about your accident. Refrain from posting pictures, comments or videos related to the crash. The defense will definitely check this out and find ways to use it against you.
- Take off anything that could be used against you. Short of disabling your accounts, this is the best strategy you can take to make sure your profiles are clean of anything that could be incriminating. This could even include simple complaints of your back hurting months before you got into an accident and suffered a serious back injury.
- Do not post about your recovery. Do not post pictures or videos while the case is still pending. It’s understandable that you’d want your friends to know you’re doing well, but keep it to phone calls. Also, don’t allow your friends to post anything about your recovery or your accident.
- Google yourself. This will give you an idea of how easy it is for the defense to find your social media profiles and collect information about you, and you’ll be able to edit the content as you see fit.
For further tips and guidance as you approach a personal injury claim, meet with an experienced Bradenton attorney at Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, Murphy & Walsh.