Page Vault Resources

Are Webpages and Social Media Admissible in a Court of Law?

Last Updated March 2024

With such an incredible amount of published webpages, websites and social media content, it can be a lot of work to sort out the content that is relevant in a legal case. However, once content is found, an attorney might ask whether or not it can be used as admissible evidence in court. The answer is likely yes, if it complies with the Federal Rules of Evidence, as well as web evidence collection best practices to strengthen its authenticity.

7 Social Media Platforms Where You're Missing Evidence

Last Updated March 2024

Social media platforms go in and out of style very quickly. When technology is moving that fast, it’s easy to forget about the one really popular platform everyone had to be on last year, but now seems no one is using. However, chances are, a large number of people are still using those platforms and posting content that may be relevant in case research or as evidence.

Collecting Evidence on Cloned Facebook Personal Profiles

Last Updated March 2024

While users worldwide are recovering from a recent Google Docs phishing scam, another widespread, prevalent scam is still affecting Facebook users: personal profile cloning. Facebook is littered with tens of millions of fake profiles and counting, and cloners have recently been using fake Facebook profiles to extort money from and send identity theft links to real users’ families and friends. These activities pose a serious problem for nearly 2 billion active Facebook users.

How to Conduct an Effective Social Media Investigation on Facebook

Last Updated March 2024

Co-Authored by Page Vault Staff and Eric Pesale, Write for Law

With nearly 1.8 billion users worldwide, Facebook has maintained its status as the platform of choice for users looking to share details of their personal lives publicly.  If searched the right way, Facebook can be a treasure trove of discoverable data for litigators and litigation support professionals. Whether for initial research or for court evidence, if you’re wondering how to collect social media data on Facebook, these four tips will help guide your social media investigation research in the right direction.

Authenticating Social Media Evidence: Federal Rules of Evidence 901(b)(1)

Last Updated March 2024

By Elana Harris

As mentioned in Part I of this series, Federal Rules of Evidence (FRE) 901 deals with authentication. FRE 901(a) requires that each item of evidence be authenticated by producing “evidence sufficient to support a finding that the item is what the proponent claims.” Rule 901(b) provides a list of suggested ways to authenticate evidence. Several of the enumerated methods are particularly relevant to social media evidence and other webpage evidence such as blogs and corporate websites. In Part II of this series, we will discuss the challenges of authenticating social media evidence under Rule 901(b)(1). In particular, we will examine the issues that arise when the testifying witness presents printouts of a third party’s social media page to show that the party owns the profile and authored the content.

Capture It Before It’s Gone: Politwoops and the Need for Independent Social Media Archiving Software

Last Updated March 2024

By Stephen Nazaran