In a 2013 decision<\/a>, a federal magistrate described a parenting dispute between a former couple as \u201ca form of tribal warfare\u201d and said the father and his family had \u201cwaged a relentless battle against the mother for many years\u201d. The father faced potential criminal sanction over his Facebook posts.<\/p>\n\u201cAn unfortunate and increasing feature of modern litigation, particularly but not exclusively in family law, is the use of social media,\u201d the magistrate said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it can be used for good, often it is used as a weapon, either by one or both of the parties … It is a veritable Aladdin\u2019s Cave which parties (and lawyers) readily and regularly explore for (invariably incriminating) \u2018evidence\u2019 to be used in litigation. As a weapon, it has particularly insidious features.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Liking\u2019 or sharing posts<\/p>\n
Bartal said she had acted for a woman whose former partner had liked and shared a purportedly \u201cfunny\u201d meme online titled How to Kill Your Wife. This was particularly sinister because the woman had an intervention order against her ex, known as an apprehended violence order in NSW.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
The woman reported the post as a breach of the order. The post was also used in evidence in a dispute over the division of property because courts can take into account the impact of family violence on a partner\u2019s ability to contribute to the joint pool of assets as well as on their future needs.<\/p>\n
Among advice Bartal gives separated parents is: \u201cdon\u2019t post disparaging comments [and] don\u2019t \u2018vent\u2019 online\u201d and don\u2019t \u201c\u2018like\u2019 negative comments made by others or post or like \u2018memes\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be tempted to join separated parents\u2019 pages. Some of that content, even if not posted by the client themselves, can be damaging by association,\u201d Bartal said.<\/p>\n
Posts about purchases<\/p>\n
In disputes over property and finances, Bartal said posting on social media about \u201cexpensive holidays and purchases … can be used in maintenance proceedings to demonstrate capacity to pay, or to justify a reduction of support\u201d.<\/p>\n
Justice Family Lawyers director Hayder Shkara said social media posts had \u201cbeen used as evidence in family law disputes for a long time\u201d. He had \u201cregularly seen Facebook posts, Snapchat videos, WhatsApp messages and images, Instagram stories and even comments forming part of the court record\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a property dispute, we had a matter where one party filmed themselves in a new car which led to an investigation into the source of those funds for the car, and increased the asset pool, meaning more money for the other party,\u201d Shkara said.<\/p>\n
He said his advice was straightforward: \u201cBefore posting, assume that it will one day be read by a judge in court\u201d, and \u201cnever post about your case, the court, or about your ex-partner\u201d.<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n
He said the imminent ban in Australia on children under 16 using social media was one of the areas to watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiscussions have started between separated parents about the social media ban for children under 16. There are concerns about how parents will enforce such restrictions, especially when separated households have different views on social media,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have also seen this year the first dispute about the authenticity of a photograph, with one party stating that it was AI-generated. I foresee this as a major issue as the authenticity of photographs and videos was previously never really challenged.\u201d<\/p>\n
Safety risks<\/p>\n
Bartal said digital safety and privacy was also an important consideration in cases involving domestic violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a client is considering or planning a separation and there has been any domestic violence, I might suggest they check their phones, iPads and laptops for location sharing, and we go through how to turn this off,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also suggested clients set up a new Apple ID, if they had Apple devices, because their old ID might allow \u201ctext messages, phone calls, and voicemails to be seen and accessed across several devices\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaking sure they sign out of email and social media accounts every time and change their passwords [is also important],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf worried, you can create an entirely new email address for communication with your lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for social media accounts, such as Facebook, Bartal said she might recommend clients \u201climit who can see posts and change privacy settings\u201d as well as \u201casking friends, especially new partners, not to \u2018tag\u2019 them in posts\u201d.<\/p>\n
Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This would include posting on social media about a dispute involving an ex-partner where their identity is apparent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-272319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}