Section 21.70 Social Media

• Library: Evidence 2017

b. (§21.70) Social Media

In State v. Snow, 437 S.W.3d 396, 402–03 (Mo. App. S.D. 2014), the court affirmed admission of MySpace messages based only on testimony of the recipient. Namely, the recipient testified that she previously communicated with the defendant through MySpace and had received the message from his MySpace account, which she recognized by his name and profile photograph. Further, the message discussed her early pregnancy, content known by few people besides the defendant. This was sufficient for admission, and “[w]eaknesses in the authentication evidence . . . were for the jury to consider in determining the weight the jury accorded” the message. Id. at 403.

The Fourth Circuit validated authentication with third party evidence in United States v. Hassan, 742 F.3d 104, 132–34 (4^th Cir. 2014), when it affirmed admission of Facebook and YouTube...