Over 5 billion people worldwide use social media, and it has become a part of everyday life. It is routine for people to post about their lives, and most people use it on a daily basis. However, in the context of a personal injury claim, social media can quickly become your biggest adversary.
Social media posts by the plaintiff during the claims process can affect the credibility of a claim and result in reduced compensation or even the claim being rejected. In such situations, choosing a skilled personal injury lawyer is essential to navigating complex laws and ensuring you win fair compensation.
Why Your Lawyer May Advise You to Stay Off Social Media
Any competent lawyer knows the dangers of social media and will advise you to stay off it when you’re in the middle of a legal process. Here are some of the reasons why they may do so:
Your Content Can Be Used to Challenge Credibility
The first major challenge that social media poses is that your content can be used to challenge the credibility of a personal injury claim. For example, if you go into detail about your injuries, this can be used by the insurance company to reduce the value of your claim by saying that your injuries are severe.
If you say, for example, that you weren’t paying attention and got into a car accident, that can be used to hold you liable and invalidate your claim.
Your Content Can Be Taken Out of Context
The next challenge with social media is that your posts can be taken out of context. For example, if you have filed for a claim due to a car accident, but you post photos of yourself taking a relaxing walk with your family the day after the accident, it may be used to invalidate your claim.
While you may have simply posted a photo of you getting some fresh air or spending time with family to the insurance company or the court, this is proof that your accident wasn’t severe or could even have been fabricated.
This is why you shouldn’t post anything on social media when you’re in the middle of a personal injury claim. It can cost you your case.
It Can Be Difficult to Remove Your Content
The risk of social media is that you don’t have complete control over your data. This means that you may not always be able to take down your posts. Even if you are, in the case of a public account, your posts may be duplicated elsewhere, making it even more difficult to remove.
You can be certain that insurance companies monitor your social media for activity and will use any content that is relevant to the case to minimize the value of your claim or deny it outright.
You Have an Emotional Outburst
People often turn to social media as an emotional outlet, which can lead to them sharing things that they later regret.
This can be disastrous in the context of a personal injury claim, for example, if a victim decides to post videos of the accident scene or rants about the defendant in the case. Such actions could affect the outcome of the claim and should be avoided.
Refraining from posting on social media when you have an ongoing legal process is a good antidote to preventing emotional outbursts that you may later regret.
Conclusion
Social media is a very tricky tool to predict and can lead to several problems. Your posts can be difficult to take down or can be misinterpreted and can be used to invalidate your claims as a result.
It is in your best interest to refrain from posting on social media and follow your lawyer’s instructions in relation to your claim.