Practically everyone uses social media these days to share their adventures and keep up with their friends and family. If you’re involved in a personal injury claim, it’s important that you’re very careful about what you post as a motorcycle accident lawyer would advise.
Below, our friends from Herschensohn Law Firm, PLLC are here to help you learn about why you should carefully choose what to post and why it’s important to make sure that your profile is as private as possible.
This blog post is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for legal advice. If you have any questions about how social media may impact your claim, speak with an experienced personal injury attorney.
Let’s get started.
Be Careful About What You Post
Social media allows users to post practically anything they want as long as they don’t violate the terms and conditions of the platform. Many people take advantage of this by posting status updates and photos.
If you’re involved in a personal injury claim, you may feel like sharing your experience with your friends and family. Yet, it’s also important that you don’t post something that is contrary to your injuries and claim. You must be careful about what you post. For example, if you injured your back and neck in an accident, you may decide to post about it on social media. If you’re under a doctor’s care, you don’t want to post things like going on a hike, bungee jumping, or anything else that would lead the viewer to presume your neck and back are not injured.
Sometimes it is best to forego posting about your injuries and claim, or just stop posting to social media completely. Here’s why.
Why It’s Important To Make Your Profile Private
Do you share your updates with a private profile or is it set so that anyone can see it? This is an important question because the insurance company and the defendant may look you up on social media to help determine if you are truly injured. If your profile is public, you’re giving up a lot of information that may hurt your claim. Make sure that your profile and your posts are set as private. You don’t want to give the insurance company or the defendant ammunition to use against you.
Best practice is to not post to social media at all after you are in an accident because privacy settings are tricky. You might have your account so that only your friends can see it, but are you sure your posts have the same settings? There have been many instances where a friend shared a post that appeared as public, thus allowing the insurance company to find proof against the person that filed the claim.
Additionally, even if you set your profile to private, people who are able to see it can still take screenshots. Remember, insurance companies do not want to pay out if they do not have to, so they will send investigators to see if they can find information on you. Keep things offline, and contact an attorney near you for help.