Who’s Looking at Your Facebook Page?
22
March 2016
In an interesting recent parenting case a mother has appealed the trial judge’s decision and sought a ‘stay’ (a suspension) of the decision pending an appeal.
In part of her case the mother argued that the Court had inappropriately accessed her social media profile.
The mother complained that “her social media profiles had been accessed from the Judges computer” and the mother made a later complaint that the Judge’s associate had accessed her social media profiles. A similar complaint had been made during the trial of the matter. The Judge made the following comments:
- The Judge had never accessed any of the mother’s social media profiles from his computer.
- There was more than ample evidence before the court for the Judge to consider the mother’s professional qualifications, employment history and experience.
- The Court regularly warns litigants about the use of social media and the ready access by others to it. The mother, as with any person, is the author of her own information on social media. Making information available through social media necessarily involves, if not invites, others having access to it. If a person seeks to have a social media profile, it is a tad disingenuous to complain about someone accessing the very information that the provider of the information has made available on social media.
The Court refused the ‘stay’ application.
