Private Facebook Boosts Are Discoverable, Says NY Appeals Court
November 5, 2018
A recent decision from the New York Court of Appeals found that Facebook posts are not entitled to protection, even when they are under the user’s privacy settings. There’s nothing so novel about Facebook materials that would exempt it from New York’s long-standing disclosure rules, the court said, and privacy in this context is not the issue. The only question is whether or not it’s reasonable to assume the source contains information relevant to the case, and the only exception when the answer is yes would be if the information is protected under privilege. “Even the right to privacy in medical records, generally protected under the physician-patient privilege, is waived when a party asserts an injury or places her health in issue in litigation,” notes this post from Hanzo. “The bottom line is that companies would be wise to capture any online or social media content that may be relevant to litigation. In short, if information on your website – or your opponent’s – is central to your claim or to a defense, you need to be sure that you preserve it in a way that will stand up in court.”
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