Social Media Can Sink Your Personal Injury Case: Here's What to Know

If you've been injured and you're pursuing a personal injury claim, one of the most important things you can do has nothing to do with paperwork or doctor's visits. It has to do with your phone.

Whether you're on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Snapchat, or YouTube, what you post, and what others post about you, can end up hurting your case. Here's what every injured person should understand before they hit "share."

It's Not Just Your Own Posts

When people think about social media hurting a case, they usually picture an obvious post: a photo, a video, a status update. But it goes much further than that. Comments you leave, messages you send, location check ins, and even posts that friends or family tag you in can all become part of the picture.

And most of it seems completely harmless in the moment. A smiling photo at a birthday party. A short video walking into a restaurant. A comment that says, "finally feeling better." A gym check-in. A vacation picture. None of it feels like evidence. But to an insurance company, and potentially to a jury, it can be used to suggest you're not hurt or not hurt as badly as you claim you are.

Why It Matters So Much

Personal injury cases almost always involve claims about pain, suffering, missed time from work, and how the injury has diminished your enjoyment of life. Social media offers a window into what you're actually doing on a day to day basis, where you're going, and with whom you're spending time.

But posts also tend to be misleading. Nobody posts about the hard days. People don't share the moments they're struggling. Social media tends to show the good moments: smiling, celebrating, out with friends. That's natural. But in the hands of an experienced defense attorney, those same happy moments can be reframed as proof that your claims are exaggerated.

The clearest example: you testify that you can no longer play basketball, and there's a video of you on the court. You say you've been mostly stuck at home for months, and there's a photo from a Caribbean beach vacation. Even if there's a reasonable explanation, that kind of contradiction is exactly what a defense lawyer is looking for.

"My Account Is Private" Doesn't Mean You're Safe

A lot of people assume that if their profile is private, it's off limits. That's not quite right. The real question in a lawsuit isn't whether your account is private. It's whether your posts are relevant to your claims or the defendant’s arguments.

New York's highest court has confirmed that social media activity can be obtained during a lawsuit if it's reasonably likely to contain information relevant to your injuries, your claims, and/or your credibility. That doesn't mean the other side gets your entire account, but the longer and more specifically you claim you can't do certain activities, the more relevant your social media becomes, and the more likely it is to be requested.

Do Not Delete Anything

If something embarrassing surfaces, the instinct might be to delete it. Don't. Deleting posts after a lawsuit has started can look like you're trying to hide something or cover up the truth, which can be far more damaging than the original post itself. It can also potentially lead to serious legal consequences, including sanctions for the destruction of evidence. Leave posts as they are and talk to your attorney about how to handle them.

Where This Comes Up: Depositions and Trial

At a deposition, you're testifying under oath about your background, the incident, your medical treatment, and what activities you now have difficulty doing. Expect to be asked directly about your social media accounts and what you've posted. If there's a mismatch between your testimony and your posts, expect to be confronted with it. The same applies at trial. Jurors weigh credibility heavily, and defense attorneys know it. A

single photo or video shown in a courtroom, one that contradicts your testimony, can undercut your credibility in a way that's hard to recover from. Jurors are often looking for a reason to doubt a claim, and a poorly timed post can hand them one.

Practical Advice If You Have a Pending Claim

The simplest approach: stop posting. For the duration of your case, take a full break from social media. Don't post about the incident, your injuries, or your medical treatment. Don't post at all if you can avoid it.

If stepping away completely isn't realistic, for personal or business reasons, here are some suggested steps:

● Set every account to private, limiting visibility to friends or friends of friends rather than to the general public

● Ask friends and family not to tag you in photos, videos, or posts while your case is

pending

● Review your privacy settings on every platform you use, not just the ones you check most often

● Before posting anything, ask yourself one question: would you be comfortable showing

this to a defense attorney, or to a jury? If the answer is no, don't post it.

The Bottom Line

A single post rarely tells the whole story of what someone is going through. But in a personal injury lawsuit, that nuance can get lost. What feels like a small, casual moment can become a piece of evidence used to minimize your damages and your credibility.

The safest path is the simplest one: limit your social media activity for as long as your case is active, and when in doubt, don't post.

Jonathan R. Ratchik is an attorney at Kramer, Dunleavy & Ratchik, PLLC, a plaintiff's personal injury law firm serving injured clients throughout New York City and New York State. For a free consultation, call 212-226-6662

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