The latest headlines on social media involve Facebook and the U.S. midterm elections. On Tuesday, Facebook announced it had identified pages and accounts created by internet trolls and bots spreading misinformation campaigns.
For legal professionals, this news highlights the growing importance of social media intelligence—and how online activity can have real-world impact.
Twitter’s Crackdown on Fake Accounts
In response to increasing scrutiny, Twitter recently announced it has purged millions of fake accounts from its platform. This action follows new European Union internet privacy regulations and growing pressure over the platform’s role in spreading fake news and enabling election interference.
As CNN reported:
“Twitter has focused on safeguarding the service in recent months amid scrutiny of its role in spreading fake news and election meddling as well as the broader data privacy backlash hitting the tech industry.”
These high-profile efforts reveal the ongoing information warfare happening on social media platforms—and the enormous challenge of identifying and stopping malicious actors.
The Scale of the Problem
It’s undeniable: both good and bad actors around the globe are using social media for noble and destructive purposes. The international intelligence community recognized the power of the web long before social platforms became embedded in daily life.
At the same time, these recent announcements reveal the difficulties major platforms face. For example, while Facebook deleted 32 suspicious accounts, that number is tiny compared to the platform’s 2.5 billion users worldwide.
Platforms must sift through billions of interactions to spot suspicious patterns and detect trolling attacks—a monumental task.
Social Media Intelligence in the Legal System
The legal system is increasingly relying on social media as a source of evidence. Across law enforcement and legal professions, investigators are using social media intelligence to:
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Identify fake accounts and aliases
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Authenticate online content
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Verify account ownership
Unlike broad platform-level monitoring, legal intelligence professionals can conduct searches at the individual user level. Using specialized tradecraft and techniques, they can uncover insights and validate evidence that algorithms or surface-level searches might miss.
Why Ethics Matter in Social Media Intelligence
When it comes to trolls, bots, fake news, and manipulation campaigns, legal professionals must also weigh ethical considerations. Collecting online evidence involves navigating evolving rules:
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Can you friend a subject during an investigation?
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Is a screenshot admissible in court?
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Can the subject tell if their account has been viewed?
Without clear guidance, it’s easy to unintentionally cross ethical or legal lines—putting your case at risk.
Why You Need a Certified Social Media Analyst
To ensure ethical, defensible evidence collection, it’s critical to work with trained professionals. At SMI Aware, our certified social media intelligence analysts conduct deep, comprehensive searches while following a strict code of ethics. Our experts use proven tradecraft to find information others cannot—while ensuring the evidence we collect is defensible in court.
Contact us today to learn how social media intelligence can support your next case or investigation.
