The complexities of family law cases have never been more obvious than in the context of widespread use of social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Advocates of these social media platforms champion the benefits of such online tools for facilitating parties to communicate in a more convenient way, and allowing the instant exchange of news, pictures and conversations.
However, there are difficulties in regulating this industry, particularly where the appropriate jurisdiction for enforcement is impossible to identify, as it often is in the context of online entities. The difficulties in regulating the content on social media sites is abundantly apparent in family law proceedings, where relationships between parties are inevitably strained and dirty laundry aired publicly.
This short alert outlines some recent examples where social media evidence has been used in court plus looks at what the Government is doing to address this growing issue.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.