The digital space is infinite. There is a demand for new skills every day. For instance, you likely have met people who specialize as digital marketers, A Rising Digital Skill social media managers, and virtual assistants. But you might not have come across anyone who says they are a social media expert witness.
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What Does a Social Media Expert Witness Do?
During litigations, attorneys usually consult field experts for a detailed explanation of specific jargon and its implications regarding the case at hand.
Social media expert witnesses consult on cases related to the digital industry.
Their work may include social media investigation, expert reports, opinions, and sometimes testimony in the courtroom.
For example, cases in which a social media expert witness can be useful include:
How Does One Qualify as a Social Media Expert Witness?
Although there is no specific course of study for social media expert witnesses in schools, professionals in this field usually have related experience.
Most of them have years of experience whatsapp number database in the technology field. These are some of the people you are likely to find as expert witnesses:There can be experts in other fields as well who could serve as social media expert witnesses.
How Important Are Social Media Expert Witnesses to Businesses?
The internet is a free world, but 5 social media marketing trends not everything on it is entirely free. The laws regulating the industry can be complex. Moreover, most of the time they are obscure.
In 2020, the search giant Google, for instance, was sued for $5 billion for allegedly tracking private internet use. Likewise, in 2021, Italy’s antitrust watchdog fined Amazon $1.28 billion for alleged abuse of market dominance.
In a trademark case, Yahoo! Inc. claimed that the defendants, Akash Arora & Anr, infringed on the global brand Yahoo! with their new website Yahoo! India. The defendants claimed to have included a disclaimer on their site. Nonetheless, the judge ruled in favor of Yahoo! as the argument is logical.
In another case, Beyonce’s company, Parkwood Entertainment, was sued in 2019 over her website’s alleged failure to accommodate visually impaired users.
Similarly, an advocacy group sued
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on behalf of the deaf community. In the suit, the advocacy group alleged that the educational institutions failed to provide closed captioning in their online lectures, courses, podcasts, and other educational materials.
In the cases cited above, expert witnesses investigated the issues. For instance, among other investigative actions, they conducted an online survey among site users to confirm or dispute the claims.
Expert witnesses might also testify in court to convince the judge that specific claims by the opposing counsel do not hold water, based on how these experts have studied the social media industry’s operations over the years.
These experts can also consult for businesses that are interested in avoiding these lawsuits altogether.
For example, expert witnesses have helped mainstream news outlets and big technology companies navigate more $200 million in claims having to do with their social media activities.
What Are Some Mistakes to Avoid as a Social Media Expert Witness?
Lawyers try to defend their clients and will often go to great lengths to ensure their client gets the best judgement from a suit. This includes finding ways to discredit key witnesses that could help the opposition’s case.
Most of the time, lawyers do not possess the expertise to debate an expert’s argument, but they do know how to do one thing very well. That is, they find pieces of evidence they can use to discredit a witness’s testimony.
This is why expert witnesses need to review b ensure they leave no loopholes for any lawyer to explore. Below are some of the mistakes expert witnesses need to avoid to prevent such a scenario:
Failing to Monitor Your Own Social Media Posts
Expert witnesses need to monitor their own social media timelines closely, as well as every post about them. The thing about social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat that makes them so exciting also makes them treacherous. That is, once someone uploads something on them, that upload becomes accessible to the world.
For example, imagine an expert testifying in support of data privacy while several posts on that expert’s page encourage firms to leverage users’ data for revenue.
