It’s World Social Media Day! How are you celebrating?
In honor of World Social Media Day on June 30, I’m dedicating this blog to one of the most useful tools we investigators have in our toolbox—a subject’s public social media profiles.
But first, let’s face it: social media platforms have (in most cases, rightfully) received their share of bad publicity over the last several years. Between high-profile bannings and takeovers (see the transformation of Twitter to X and the advent of former President Trump’s Truth Social platform), to the leakage of platforms’ internal studies about their own correlation with poor mental health in youth, to the US government’s ultimatum regarding the sale or banning of TikTok due to reasons of national security, it isn’t exactly a pretty picture out there. The prevalence of disinformation and outright lies circulating across these platforms has made navigating reality—not to mention our political landscape—more difficult than ever. Add in the dramatic rise in sextortion cases through mainstream platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, and the picture looks even more grim.
But for investigators, social media can be a critical window into a subject’s lifestyle, perspective and community to which we rarely had access before. Any good investigator won’t be satisfied with “There are no criminal records naming this subject” or “We did not identify any bankruptcy petitions naming them as a debtor.” Ok, but have they posted or otherwise engaged with offensive, inappropriate or threatening content online? Do they post about making significant purchases that seem outside their financial means based on their professional background? Have they posted content that includes their family or friends, and if so, how do those relationships inform your understanding of the subject’s life and social network?
Deeper questions that social media can help answer—like “What is this person’s worldview?” and “how do they treat the people and places around them?”—can add depth, insight and clarity to any investigation, whether it is in advance of a hiring decision or a strategic acquisition, or as part of a legal strategy or behavioral threat assessment. On a more tangible level, social media can also be used to create a timeline of a person’s whereabouts, answering questions like “Where were they when a certain incident occurred?” and “Does their version of events add up, based on their whereabouts?” While this information could previously have been obtained through discreet source interviews or even a direct interview with the subject in certain instances, public, frequently used social media profiles can be an easier access-point for this type of intelligence, which could be critical to answering a key question within an investigation. The insights gleaned from a subject’s online persona can significantly inform an investigator’s understanding of a subject’s mental well-being, affluence, professionalism, sense of humor, personal network, political views, and much more.
A few key examples
To honor this incredible tool, I thought I’d share a few surprising and/or significant social media findings from my career as an investigator:
C-suite executive posts lewd photos of, and comments about, women, including commenting that attractive women would return to movies since the overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault conviction, and commenting that he would hire a woman as an intern after she bent over in an online video
Suspected conflict of interest is proven true after a client’s employee posts photos online with a potential vendor of the company, a tie the employee had failed to disclose to management
A suspected threat actor posts pictures of firearms and racist paraphernalia in their home, leading our client to increase their security measures and create a BOLO alert for relevant personnel
A subject posts photos of a yacht, luxury vehicles and an extensive wine collection, providing evidence there were sufficient assets for our client to pursue in court
Key questions to ask your investigative team
Given the importance of social media in painting a more complete picture of a subject and their life—both online and in real life—below are a few key questions to ask the investigative team(s) your organization or office work with:
Do you have a tool that can quickly and effectively identify social media profiles and activity for a subject, rather than relying on manual searches only? Can this tool also identify profiles maintained under a subject’s alias or unrelated username?
Are you checking for information from data breaches that could further shed light on a subject’s online activity?
Are you able to forensically capture social media content, should we need it preserved and admissible in court down the road?
What steps do you take if a subject’s social media content appears to contradict—or raise further questions about—their life offline? How can we corroborate or disprove this information through other public records or discreet source interviews?
While social media’s positives and negatives will continue to be debated everywhere from classrooms to Congress, it can provide researchers with a fascinating—and important—lens into a subject’s life and activity.