Litigation Archives

Leave Social Media Monitoring to the Police

Social media content has been helpful to police in many ways. In some instances, criminals themselves make the mistake of using social media to their disadvantage. These are two real life examples:

1. Three teenagers break into a junior high school and steal items. They are easily caught after posting images of their exploits on SnapChat, where several classmates see this and tell their parents and the school.

2. A victim met a gentleman in an apartment’s parking lot to buy a handgun. As they were agreeing on terms, the gentleman allegedly loaded the gun and demanded the victim’s belongings. The person handed over his money in an envelope, at which point the gentleman got into a vehicle and fled. Instagram posts led to his arrest, on his own accord.

In other instances, police rely on other social media data to assist with crime investigations and even crime prevention. However, there are some risks that come along with it. One example comes from eyewitness recollection and the increase in social media usage. It’s widely known that eyewitness testimony can be unreliable; some research indicates that up to 70% of wrongful convictions are due to eyewitness inaccuracy. With regard to social media, this intensifies as everyone now plays “detective” in news making situations, providing potentially false information on public venues, creating additional work on the part of law enforcement as they sort through millions of social media posts and content and follow up on these leads.

While it can be tricky, law enforcement’s use of social media data has surely been invaluable. It’s important though, as citizens, we let law enforcement do their job and not muddy up the waters, so to speak. I can imagine their social sites receive well more tips than a traditional hotline; they have tools and resources to better sort through information, but it is helpful to “post with caution” when news breaks and not flood inboxes with information that may or may not be helpful.

Is Uber Doing Enough To Screen Drivers?

Uber has been making news recently, as their background screening policy has come under fire. They recently settled two class action lawsuits regarding their additional “Safe Rides Fee.” The issue wasn’t necessarily the additional fee (which will not go away, but will be changed to a “booking fee”), which Uber states is necessary to offset the costs of the background checks done on drivers and the 24/7 support they provide. Part of the issue was the language used; they referred to the background checks as “industry leading” and perhaps misled customers to believe that their background checks were more involved or in depth than others.

This has found to be not entirely true, as other news had circulated over the summer where four Uber drivers were found to have criminal records, ones that would have prevented them from becoming employed as a taxi driver in Los Angeles, leaving some to wonder how thorough their checks are.

Uber and other companies, such as Lyft, have been game changers in the taxi/rideshare industry. Because the business model is so different than a standard taxi service, it is more important than ever to ensure that drivers are thoroughly screened, and references to ‘industry leading’ background checks should be fully disclosed to give customers a peace of mind when using these services.

Upon review, it appears that Uber is utilizing a strong software program to conduct background checks, including social security confirmation, driving history, criminal records, and a credit check to name a few. Like most companies, adding a social media background check would provide an additional layer of security and potentially uncover issues that may not be found through traditional background checks.

Social media background checks have become more sophisticated and detailed than merely running a Google Search on an individual. Like standard background checks, they are FCRA compliant and provide detailed history of an individual from online resources.

While these new ride sharing programs are gaining steam and providing a popular option for those seeking services, it is more important than ever for these companies to provide a rock solid background check and be transparent with their customers as to what they are doing to keep riders safe. While this will not solve 100% of the issues, a thorough background check of all angles, both standard and online, is a good proactive means to providing the highest quality drivers to their customers.

Colleges & Social Media Threats: What Can Be Done?

With the horrific shooting in Oregon last week, there have been many threats to college campuses across the nation. Most have been unfounded, thankfully, but it raises an important question – how can law enforcement and colleges monitor for potential threats, and know when to take them seriously?

At this stage in the game, all perceived threats have to be taken seriously. While some will pose threats directly to the college itself, it is becoming more and more important for schools and law enforcement to monitor social media to look for potential threats on social sites.

Like finding a needle in a haystack, this is an undaunting task. Thanks to the evolution of social media monitoring, it can be easier than it has been. Using geography based monitoring programs, social content posted in the vicinity of an area can be monitored, with alerts sent for posts containing specific keywords, hashtags, or phrases that may warrant a closer look.

How can this help?

It can help identify those who are posting threats or content that may indicate potential trouble, both by user name and location. Geographic based monitoring can pinpoint coordinates for a specific location from which the user was posting content, which can be helpful in identifying those who are posting on anonymous sites, such as YikYak.

By using careful monitoring setup, schools and law enforcement can identify the potential for trouble by creating profiles of users who are posting content that may indicate they are struggling somehow, whether it be with mental health issues, school bullying, or depression/suicidal thoughts. Those users can then be more closely monitored, as can their connections with others, to possibly prevent tragedies such as the Oregon shooting.

Social monitoring can aid in investigation and arrest of those making threats. A recent article showed how a threat was made to the University of Central Arkansas. They were able to identify and prosecute the person who made the threat. While his first post on YikYak was more general and police could not make an arrest based on it (he simply posted “Just want to warn you guys now, don’t come to campus next Wednesday”), his second post was more specific and allowed police to move forward. In the second post, he said, “Fellow yaks, you seem like good people and I care for you, so if you read this, please stay in your dorms or off campus next Wednesday, I care too much for you all to fall victim of the event.” While it’s not clear from the article, it seems as though it is possible that police were watching the user’s activity more closely after the first, less specific, threat was made.

There are many times when clues are posted on social sites that are sadly found after the fact. With the public paying attention and reporting anything they see as potentially concerning, as well as the enhanced social media monitoring programs available, it is hopeful that more tragedies can be prevented in the future.

Do Lawyers Have a Responsibility To Mine Social Media Content?

Social media is a game changer in many ways, and litigation is no different. While social media has been the newest way to connect with friends and family, users are not always careful in what they post. At times, this may come back to haunt them. Add to that the fact that the amount of public information that is now readily available online, and you’ve got an entire new set of data to pull for litigation support.

I came across an interesting article that discusses, at length, the role of social media in litigation. Within this article, one lawyer poses the idea of responsibility as it relates to searching online information when preparing a case.

“Attorney George” is cited in the article sharing his thoughts on the importance of reviewing social media content as a part of trial preparation. He states, “We believe that running a social media search of clients, opponents, and witnesses is now part of the minimum level of due diligence expected of a competent litigator. Indeed, some courts have questioned whether lawyers who have not run Google searches on a defendant but are asserting that the person cannot be found have in fact made reasonable efforts to locate the defendant. In our view, it’s just a matter of time before malpractice claims begin to surface based on a failure to use information publicly available on the Internet.”

Since this is still new territory, so to speak, it raises a good point; can social media content be used for trial preparation, specifically when it comes to witness, defendant, or plaintiff research?

In one word: yes.

Social media monitoring has come a long way since we first entered the space back in 2007. It emerged as a way for brands to monitor what others were saying on social sites, but is much more extensive, thanks to users who like to share every moment of their lives with others. The technology behind it has evolved to a point where it goes beyond simple social sites to be all inclusive of online public content.

Google searches can provide preliminary, basic information about a person of interest; however, there is a lot of “touching” in that 1) one needs to confirm that they are correctly identifying a person, 2) that relevant data is found, with nothing missed, and 3) that the search goes beyond the first few pages of results.

Social media monitoring services have made this process easier and more streamlined. Many law firms and starting to outsource this practice, as service providers have the technology readily available to easily identify persons of interest and provide relevant results in a timely manner.

In addition to public facing content users post on social sites, a strong monitoring service can go well beyond a basic Google search and include:

Public data, including known addresses and phone numbers
Content posted on what is not considered “traditional” social sites, such as blog post comments, message boards, or commentary left on news articles
Content that was posted at the time of the social media research that may be deleted by the user by the time the trial hits. This is especially useful for content that may affect the case in some way.
Connections on social sites to other people, businesses, or entities that may be of interest and relate to the trial

I agree with the attorney cited in the article in that, at minimum, an online search should be done related to the case. Given that this information is so readily available, it will become more important for this to be done as time passes, and I anticipate that more law firms will turn toward professional social media monitoring service providers to assist with this task.

Social Media Helps Police With Drug Sales on Social Media

While social media has done some great things, there is one that isn’t so great: selling drugs just got easier.A simple hashtag such as #hmu (hook me up), #kush, or any variation including a drug name can get some attention. Surprisingly, simply posting these kinds of messages are legal; it becomes an illegal act once a sale is made.

How can social media monitoring help? There are tools now that have enhanced the way law enforcement can monitor social activity – through geographical monitoring using simple geographical fences coupled with hashtags or keywords, police can easily identify where this type of activity is happening, which can assist in identifying and stopping illegal activity.

Using our social media monitoring platform, we did a quick search for people posting images and content with the hashtag #kush – another name for marijuana. The heatmap below shows where people are posting content, and the frequency at which these posts are occurring across the country:

This can easily drill down to a specific state, city, or street block to see where content is coming from. This is extremely useful for law enforcement, and is another tool they are adding to their arsenal to help fight crime.

While this example highlights the ease in which drug seekers and/or sellers can be identified, it can also be used in many other ways, including:

Create a “fence” around a crime scene to identify possible witnesses that left the scene prior to police arriving.
Monitor content to be proactive in identifying potential school violence.
Identifying and monitoring gang activity, which can include location specific information

What once was seen as a tool for brands to connect with customers has morphed into an all encompassing tool. Law enforcement agencies are seeing the value of using social media monitoring, and specifically location based tools to assist in their efforts.