Social media communications are becoming increasingly important evidence in litigation and the New York State Court of Appeals in People v. Price, 29 N.Y.3d 472 (2017), made it clear that there is no strict rule or formula that must be met in order to have social media communications authenticated in order to be admitted into evidence. However, what is clear is that, whether for purposes of summary judgment or for trial, when a party denies that the actual social media post or picture, frequently offered in the form of a “screen shot,” was his or hers, there must be sufficient indicia, which may not be that difficult to obtain, that the communication came from the author in order to be properly authenticated.

Case Law Provides Guidance

As demonstrated by the cases described below, “courts have been flexible as to the manner of authenticating electronic evidence. Often the authentication comes from a combination of sources. Also, the evidence is frequently authenticated circumstantially, such as through the distinctive nature of the contents of the messages.” Matter of R.D. (C.L.), 58 Misc. 3d 780 (Fam. Ct. N.Y. Co. 2017).

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]