This may feel like piling on, writing about Kanye’s divorce and behavior. But it’s not. There’s a real lesson for anyone involved in any family law matter buried in all the Kanye news.
Kanye and Kim filed for divorce in what seems like years ago. The case is dragging, it is in court. Throughout the entire matter Kanye has been burning up social media. He’s gone after Kim and Pete Davidson and everyone else not firmly on his side.
That’s a problem.
It’s not 2010 anymore. Social Media and divorce are a bad combination. In 2022, even the courts have caught on that there’s something going on on-line and on smart phones.
Social media accounts are now accepted evidence. Before you nod and say, “That’s what delete is for,” nothing you post, text, IM, DM, and everything else on social media, whatever the platform, is ever permanently erased.
Everything you post, even on Snapchat, even stories that ‘disappear’ after a time, are easily preserved by a screenshot.
It seems like almost everyone knows this but don’t think it applies to them or their case. Deleting a not so good post that pops up later may be worse than the original post in the eyes of the court (and public, if you have one). This applies to you as well as the many politicians and athletes who have found this out the hard way. One of the top selling musicians of all time is finding out now.
This is not where we are going to ask you to stop posting when you so much as suspect you’re going to be involved in a family law matter. That’s never going to happen [right?] Besides, this is no time to cut yourself off from the support of friends.
We are asking that you understand that sarcasm does not play well on any platform. That any post can (and probably will in an adverse matter) be taken out of context. That jokes usually fall flat at best or are misconstrued in the worst possible way at worse. Inside jokes work for insiders, everyone else will take them the wrong way.
If you post about your pending divorce; complain about the judge, opposing lawyers, your soon-to-be-ex, the ‘system;’ there’s a good chance it will not end well for you.
You may end up like Kanye is as we write this – he’s trying to have his social media posts thrown out by claiming not that he didn’t write them, but that Kim can’t prove he did. A tough prove as there’s a recent Instagram post where Kanye’s holding a yellow pad that says “my accounts weren’t hacked.”
Social media rule of thumb for anyone involved in a family law matter: if you feel uneasy, if you feel the slightest hesitation, if you wouldn’t like to see the same thing written about you, don’t post it.
Before you hit the button to send it out into the world, think this: someone who can decide your future may see it.
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