Facebook’s Live Video Policy Update: What Legal Professionals Need to Know

An upcoming change to Facebook’s policies may present challenges in preserving Facebook content for legal proceedings.

Beginning February 19, 2025, Meta will implement automatic deletion of all live videos 30 days after they are published. This change underscores the growing need for proactive social media data preservation, particularly in cases where live-streamed content may serve as key evidence.

Key Policy Changes

• Live videos will be automatically deleted from Facebook 30 days after publication.
• Users will receive a notification (via email and Facebook) when this policy takes effect for their account.
• Older live videos (already over 30 days old) will be removed immediately upon notification unless downloaded.
• A 90-day grace period allows users to download or transfer videos to cloud storage.
• One-time postponement (up to 6 months) is allowed, but after that, videos will be permanently deleted.

The only exception applies to memorialized accounts, where content will remain visible to the original audience.

Implications for Legal Professionals

Under the new policy, the relevant Facebook Live content is not proactively captured, it could be permanently lost before it can be used in  legal proceedings.

This poses a significant challenge for legal teams that rely on Facebook videos for e-discovery, evidence collection, and case strategy. Even if a client or opposing party has a live video on their profile, it may disappear before a preservation order can be issued or enforced.

Best Practices for Social Media Evidence Preservation

Given the limited time frame for accessing Facebook Live content, legal professionals should:

•  Immediately identify and monitor relevant social media content in active cases.
   
• Utilize defensible capture tools that preserve metadata, timestamps, and video authenticity.
  
  
•  Advise clients and corporate teams on the importance of downloading or archiving content before it is deleted.

Page Vault: A Reliable Solution for Social Media Evidence Collection

To address these challenges, legal professionals need a defensible method to capture Facebook Live content before it is lost. Page Vault offers an industry-trusted solution for collecting and preserving online content for litigation.

🔹 Court-Admissible Evidence – Page Vault ensures social media evidence is time-stamped and stored with an unbroken chain of custody, making it defensible in court.

🔹 Full-Context Preservation – Unlike simple downloads, Page Vault captures video content, metadata, comments, and timestamps, providing a complete record of online interactions.

🔹 Compliance & E-Discovery Readiness – By proactively preserving content, legal teams can avoid spoliation risks and ensure critical evidence is available when needed.

Conclusion

With Facebook’s new policy set to take effect, legal professionals must act quickly to adjust their evidence collection practices. The window for preserving live video content will be dramatically reduced, making it imperative to implement a reliable and legally defensible capture solution.

By leveraging tools like Page Vault, legal teams can ensure they are fully equipped to secure, authenticate, and utilize social media content in their cases—before it’s too late.

Need to capture Facebook Live videos before they’re deleted? Contact Page Vault today to safeguard your critical digital evidence.