Social media litigation trends
Useful data from the US on social media
Social media law is becoming an increasingly important area of law impacting on areas such as employment law, defamation, privacy, family law and human rights.
Things are moving very fast, as with all things relating to the new digital world we live in. Trends in the legal interpretation of social media activity in the USA are worth noting for the future of English law in this area.
In a recent US study :-
- 43% of businesses have had issues relating to employee misuse of social media at work
- 30% of businesses surveyed have taken disciplinary action against employees relating to social media use
- Both employers and employees are becoming increasingly aware that social media may be a useful source of evidence in court claims, although most are unclear as to where the lines are drawn in terms of what can be legitimately accessed and used in evidence at court.
Two recent cases from the Inidianma and New York states courts indicate that courts are becoming increasingly receptive to social media activity evidence and in particular that as part of the vital disclosure discovery) obligations on all parties in litigation, it is likely to be legitimate for parties to request social media activity evidence from each other, although again, this is unlikely to be total disclosure and the extent of disclosure in this area is still a developing area of law worldwide.
Tags: employment law, privacy, social media. litigation