Don't Let Social Media Trip You Up

IF you’re filing a personal injury claim, be careful what you post on social media platforms.

- Vanessa Papas

DID you know that posting certain information on social media could cause you to lose a pending personal injury claim, and, as a result, lose money too?

Ask celebs Beyoncé, Serena and Venus Williams, Usain Bolt, Melanie Brown and Shaquille O’Neal and they’ll tell you that social media is a huge platform to promote yourself and garner more fans. These days, social media is everywhere. Most people have some sort of social media account, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or YouTube. Many people don’t realise it, but the social media sites they use every day can hurt a pending personal injury claim. Insurance adjusters or defence attorneys will use anything they can to deny or discredit a claim. You might not think an adjuster will find his or her way onto your Facebook page, but, according to experts, it happens all the time. The result is the loss of the claim, and ultimately, the loss of money.

“It is commonplace to use social media platforms to share all kinds of information, including diary-like details of personal experiences. However, if you’re in the process of filing a personal injury claim or are awaiting its settlement, think twice about what you post,” says Kirstie Haslam, partner at DSC Attorneys which specialises in personal injury law. She warns that with social media investigations now becoming the new normal, photographs, comments and videos posted on social media are admissible as evidence in a court of law.