Social Media Policy: Identifying Abuse Potential in Investigations

This discussion board post addresses the potential for abuse within the seven elements of a social media policy, particularly in the context of law enforcement intelligence and investigative activities. The author identifies the Fourth Amendment's restrictions on unreasonable searches and seizures as a critical element requiring careful consideration in the social media landscape, highlighting the risks of identity theft, the spread of fake news, and the potential for misuse of social media during events like the Vancouver riot. The author also reviews and comments on classmates' posts, addressing concerns about off-duty officers using social media for investigations without authorization and the challenges of validating information obtained from social media sources. The post references provided documents to support claims and provide context to the discussion. Desklib provides solved assignments and study tools for students.

Social Media Discussion
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Table of Contents
Seven elements of social media..................................................................................................................3
Review classmates post...............................................................................................................................3
Classmate 1.............................................................................................................................................3
Classmate 2.............................................................................................................................................3
References...................................................................................................................................................4
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Seven elements of social media
Element 2: According to the fourth amendment, a restriction has been placed for searching for
unreasonable information and seizures. This protection must apply in social media as well.
Nowadays, it has become a trend of uploading pictures, sharing personal information, posting
activities and relationship between and among individuals. The use of technology is increasing
day by day and in these conditions, it is difficult to differentiate between reasonable and
unreasonable access under the fourth amendment (Burkart 125).
Social media platforms are allowing people to connect with each other and Facebook is one of
those platforms that allow its users to let their friends know what they are up to. However,
sharing personal information over social networking sits can lead to identity theft. There are few
things that should not be shared on social networking platforms, like current location, full date of
birth, photos of credit cards and paychecks, the picture of driver's license, address and phone
number. It is easy to spread fake news using social networking sits. It can be noticed during
elections, how Fake news can sway an election and manipulate public thinking. The most
common fake news which often can be noticed is related to politics, terrorism, science, natural
disaster or financial information. Social media has played a big role during the Vancouver riot in
2011 (Schneider 75). It is also known as the world's first smartphone riot because instead of
running from the massacre, people remained in the area to make a video of it in their
smartphones. Some rioters were performing in front of the camera and sent those videos to others
so that the riot could be spread all over the state.
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Review classmates post
Classmate 1
My classmate has mentioned that any law enforcement officer who is off duty using social
networking site to investigate a case without having any authorization can be considered as
criminal intelligence and also can lead to an active investigation. A provision needs to be added
in social media policy for those officers who are off duty and using social media information for
personal law enforcement purpose and also using non-agency apparatus, for official law
enforcement purpose. For example if an intelligence officer who is working on a gang-related
case and using his personal twitter account to follow the matters related to the case after having
authorization from agency policy is valid (Golbeck 212).
Classmate 2
The information which has been provided by my classmate is absolutely correct. The information
which is being obtained from social media can be considered as a valid tip but there is a
difficulty in determining the validity of the information (Scaife 133). The information which is
being obtained from social media for criminal investigations requires further evaluation to be
sure that the information is authentic. For an example a video which is posted on YouTube
showing that an individual is robbing a convenience store. The law enforcement officer requires
identifying the IP address which has been used to upload the video and to find out the person
who has been using this IP address. Social media can help in getting information, but a proper
evaluation and authentication require invalidating the information.
References
Burkart, Edith Jenae. Facebook Use And Engagement Of College Freshmen. 2nd ed.,
2013.
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Golbeck, Jennifer. Introduction To Social Media Investigation. 3rd ed., Syngress,
2015.
Scaife, Laura. Handbook Of Social Media And The Law. 1st ed., Routledge, 2015.
Schneider, Christopher J. Policing And Social Media. 3rd ed., Lexington Books, 2016.
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