Prosecutors warn the public about certain posting on social media
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – One of the benefits of social media is the ability to get information out to a lot of people at one time.
But what if that information is untrue or harmful to someone else?
You have probably heard the first few sentences of the Miranda Warning that include, “anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law”.
In the era of social media, you can sometimes add “anything you post” to that, too.
“The warning I would give anybody when it comes to social media, don’t say anything on social media that you won’t say to somebody’s face,” said Scott Colom, the 16th Circuit Court District Attorney.
Many people use social media to express themselves and provide information to the public.
However, in some cases, orders have been issued by law enforcement and courts restricting individuals from disclosing certain information.
In other cases, they are using posts as evidence in investigations.
District Attorney Scott Colom emphasized the importance of being mindful of the content in your posts.
“I think people need to realize, especially young people, that the things that you post online can have real-life consequences,” Colom said. “I mean, it can have criminal consequences because we can use that against you. But, also it can have career and professional consequences, when employers are looking to decide who to hire, a lot of times they may go to social media and see what type of person you are outside of the interview.”
The Free Speech Union reports the police are making more than 30 arrests a day from social media and other platforms.
Colom said expressing yourself online is bringing new ways to get in trouble.
“That’s what really can get dangerous is young people can have conflict and they’ll take it online and it’ll escalate,” Colom said. “Back in the day when I was growing up, you might have an argument at school but by the next day or two, you are back friends with that person. Now, somebody said something about somebody online and now you feel like they took a shot at your pride so now you got to shoot back and it just spirals. that’s why social media can be very dangerous because it’s not about proving anything to yourself it’s about proving something to other people and whenever you are motivated about proving something to other people, you are in dangerous territory.”
Exploding Topics reports that average person spends nearly two and half hours on social media a day.
