Social media has become an important tool in today’s time, especially when it comes to investigations.
In the legal field, social media has become a part of the discovery phase in litigation. In insurance claims, insurers have also turned to Facebook and the like in an attempt to find as much information on potential fraudulent claims as possible. There are countless stories of fraudsters being caught in falsehoods because of their photos or posts on their profiles.
But with social media becoming such a widely-used platform for investigation, the next question would be one of ethics.
Where exactly is the line between public information and user privacy on social media? What are investigators allowed and what is too far when it comes to this?
PUBLIC CONTENT ONLY
Social media sites have privacy settings. Some posts are meant for only friends, while some are made available publicly. When it comes to social media ethics, public posts or profiles are obviously fine. Once a user has posted something and made it available to the public, then investigators are allowed to access that.
NO ENGAGEMENT
While observing social media behavior is perfectly fine, actual engagement with the users is a different matter. The insurer AXA, for example, investigates on social media when they have reason to believe there has been a fraudulent claim. But their rules include no friend requests, and no likes or comments on the pages they are monitoring.
FULL DISCLOSURE
Not all investigators will agree with the guidelines listed above, but the rule that could be all-encompassing is this: full disclosure. If a claims investigator needs to get in touch with a person through social media, the least they can do is identify themselves as such. The main point is not to be deceitful.
There aren’t exactly hard and fast rules here. In social media discovery in litigation, different courts have different positions on how broad discovery should be. Some courts believe that parties should produce their login information to give complete access to the entire social media account.
But if there is concern about ethics, these simple rules can ensure that investigators can do their job to catch claims fraud – and still do it responsibly and ethically.
Can early detection reports and other services help your company battle claims fraud? Consult with TukkoMed to learn how we can help you.
SOURCES:
“Forman v Henkin: The Conflict Between Social Media Discovery and User Privacy.” California Law Review Circuit, August 2016, Web.
https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=clrcircuit
“Are insurers snooping on you through your social media? You could be being watched more than you think.” This Is Money, 24 September 2018, Web.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-6189053/Are-insurers-snooping-social-media.html
“Social media can be key in claims investigations, but ethics critical.” Dan Lawrie Insurance Brokers, 10 February 2014, Web.
http://danlawrie.com/social-media-can-be-key-in-claims-investigations-but-ethics-critical/