What Every Personal Injury Attorney Wants Their Clients to Know About Social Media: Stop Posting!

When you are injured, it may be tempting to spend an inordinate amount of time on social media, scrolling and posting. It may be a way for you to seek connection or support for your injuries. Unfortunately, that source of connection with the outside world can be the downfall of your injury case.

Says attorney Kelly Alfreds with the Steinberg Law Firm, “It is so easy to unknowingly or unwittingly undermine your injury case with a social media post.”

Even when you think your profile is hidden or not able to be seen, the defense attorneys on the other side have ways to see what you are posting including hiring private investigators to dig through the internet to prove you are not as injured as you claim.

“I’ve had defense counsel tell me if they could put surveillance on every injury victim, they would, because it usually pays off,” said Alfreds.

That is not to say that everyone is lying about their injuries. What it does mean is that images and posts can be misconstrued and used against you, even though you are seriously injured.

Here are a few actual social media horror stories:

1. A man with a workers’ comp claim for a back injury posted photos of himself on vacation in Jamaica in the pool with his girlfriend riding on his shoulders.
2. The defense attorney pulled up a photo post from a friend’s Facebook page showing the injured man hunting, which was taken two years prior, but the defense claimed there was no way to prove the photo was not from the past weekend.
3. A person seriously injured and needing a knee replacement posted videos of themselves dancing, jumping, and torquing on Tik Tok.
4. A person who claimed they were unable to drive posted pictures of themselves glamming behind the wheel. The case settled for a very small amount.
5. An injured worker who was unable to work posted videos of themselves riding and jumping dirt bikes on a racecourse.

Sadly, social media can be your enemy when you are injured. It can be very challenging to win a case when your credibility as a witness to your own case is called into question.

The following tips can help you avoid reducing your compensation or losing your case altogether.

1. Avoid posting on social media. Period.
2. Ask your friends not to post or tag you in social media.
3. Allow your injuries to dictate your activities – don’t do more than you should be doing.
4. Check your security, sharing, and privacy settings on all social media accounts and make them as restricted as possible.
5. Do not post publicly on other people’s accounts.

These steps can help your attorney help you. For more information, call our experienced South Carolina injury lawyers at 843-720-2800. We offer free consultations and no fee unless we win your case.