With over one billion users on Facebook and the explosion of Twitter and LinkedIn, it is no surprise that social media has become an integral part of the day-to-day lives of employees across the country. As these social media websites have become increasingly popular, courts have continued to address the legal issues raised by social media, particularly in the area of discovery. This article focuses on recent developments in the discovery of social media content in employment discrimination cases.1
Social Networking Site Information
Questions of relevance and undue burden are nothing new to lawyers in the discovery stage of litigation. The developing body of law relating to e-discovery of social networking information, however, has illuminated some of the challenges that attorneys often confront when crafting discovery requests, and has also presented some new challenges. For example, obtaining relevant information in the form of social media content requires counsel to be up to speed on how social media sites work and what the proper terminology is when crafting requests for social media content. Not surprisingly, courts have generally prevented employers in litigation from obtaining an employee’s entire social networking profile on the theory that allowing such broad discovery would amount to the proverbial fishing expedition. Therefore, as the range of social media content expands to include new and different forms of communication and expression, it is important that information sought in a discovery request be relevant to the claims asserted.
