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In this age of technology, one of the truest sayings remains ‘the internet does not forget.’ This simply means that once you put out any form of data into the internet, even if you later on delete it from your end, one can still recover and use this data to incriminate you. Therefore, you have to be extremely careful about anything you say or do on online platforms, lest they come to haunt you later on. This is a guiding post on how to avoid future incrimination from past social media posts.
Think before you post
In as much as we all have individual handles, timelines, and feeds, we have to remember that the internet is an open field to everyone and anyone. With this in mind, you have to analyse and criticize everything before you put it up on social media. This is especially true for people whose lives are open to the public eye. Try to write down the intended post on paper first. By doing so, you can read and hear the post from a reader’s point of view, which will allow you to make the necessary changes and adjustments to make it appropriate. In case you are worried about not being objective, you can try to get external advice or opinions.
Avoid extremities
Whether you are a celebrity, or a person who holds a sensitive office, avoid making radical statements on your social media feeds. These include declarations of support for a specific political party, especially if it has controversy, calling out corrupt government officials by name, sharing private and unauthorized recordings of meetings, dealings, etc., or saying anything that might translate oppressing the rights and freedoms of a marginalized group. While it is okay to have personal beliefs, stands, and principles, it is not wise to put them up on social media, especially if there is a chance you might change them in the future.
Avoid sharing sensitive information
Many high-ranking officials have faced harsh judgement and sometimes career destruction thanks to the leakage of sensitive information of or about them. These include nude photos, sex tapes, videos of them asking for, or accepting bribes, recordings of them acting disorderly, etc. Even when you know the person to whom you want to send the sensitive data, you have to realize that there are malicious individuals that can intercept and steal this data. They might later use it to blackmail you, or cause you societal grief. Either way, the results are negative. You can therefore avoid all this by simply refraining from sending any volatile data over the internet.
Check your privacy settings
Although you can never be 100% safe on the internet, you can try to be as private as possible. You can do this by firstly carefully choosing whose friend request to accept and who to follow back. In the case of Facebook, you can then limit who gets to see your posts and photos. Some people have their timelines open to the public, which is not wrong, but can be easy to infiltrate. Strict privacy settings can help you avoid incrimination and other future problems.
