Can Online Messages or Usage of Social Media Lead to a Restraining Order in New Jersey?

Can Online Messages or Usage of Social Media Lead to a Restraining Order in New Jersey?

Most domestic violence cases have to do with face-to-face interactions, calls, or events that happened while together. Today, this is more expansive because many disputes happen through messages, social media posts, emails, and other electronic communication. While technology continues to grow, New Jersey courts have had to decide whether online conduct and communication constitute harassment, stalking, or other actions of domestic violence. The answer is most likely yes, social media conduct can support a restraining order.

Domestic Violence Through Social Media

Many people think that domestic violence is physical contact or continuous threats of physical harm to an individual. While that is a form of domestic violence and can be a basis for a restraining order, New Jersey’s Prevention of Domestic Violence Act also recognizes other behavior that would qualify as domestic violence, such as cyberstalking and other acts of harassment. Depending on the situation, acts like harassment, stalking, cyber stalking, and threats of that nature can provide the court with grounds for a restraining order. This is why communication through messages or social media may become very important in deciding things like restraining orders in domestic violence cases.

Evidence that may be relevant to courts includes repeated text messages, direct messages that contain threatening messages, public social media attacks on an individual, or attempting to monitor another person through stalking their online activity.

What Constitutes Harassment In Text Messages

While angry text messages can be concerning to get, not every text will justify a restraining order. Family law disputes can become emotional, and courts realize that spouses, partners, and co-parents do not always communicate in effective, efficient, or good ways. In order to decide whether texts are more concerning than just frustrated or tense conversations, involve looking at the frequency, content, and overall purpose of the person’s messages.

Some situations in which courts may use more time to evaluate or look more like harassment include hundreds of unwanted messages, repeated messages even after being asked to stop, threatening language meant to intimidate, messages that intend to continue to annoy another person, or attempts to control another person’s activity or track activity based on media activity. Courts will examine the content of the communication and use their findings to evaluate whether it is at a level of harassment under New Jersey law, or if there is just poor communication within a tense situation.

Can Social Media Support Action for a Restraining Order?

Social media creates new outlets for conflicts after a relationship ends. Partners may use media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X to post accusations or insults, may share private information about the other or the relationship, monitor/stalk another person’s activities, or try to get other people to contact them. Sometimes, social media activity can just be immature, but other times, it may cross into domestic violence that has legal consequences.

As more people use media platforms, more of our lives are posted online, and courts have become more willing to examine factors of domestic violence allegations and whether it is present based on digital actions, as opposed to just face-to-face contacts.

Screenshots and Other Evidence

An important question that needs to be asked in these cases is, “How do I prove what happened?” In some cases, screenshots play an essential role as evidence of what happened, especially in cases where the main harassment was digital. Messages (texts or through media), social media actions (posts), and call logs are all pieces of evidence that may help establish a pattern of unwanted or harassing conduct.

Preserving this evidence is crucial. If there are digital communications that are thought to be relevant to a restraining order application or proving some type of harassment is taking place, take screenshots immediately, preserve whole conversations rather than isolated or modified messages, save voicemails and call logs, and keep copies of posts or social media activity before they are deleted. The more complete the documentation is, the stronger the evidence of misconduct is, and the easier it will be to show what really happened.

While screenshots are a crucial source of evidence, courts will determine whether the evidence is authentic or not. A screenshot does not automatically prove who sent a message or that the content has not been changed or altered. Because of this, courts may also look at additional evidence like phone records, account information, and witness testimonies. This is another reason why keeping original messages and keeping full, complete records is very important for the court.

Your Side – Don’t Post Just Anything

Many people who are involved in disputes will use social media to express their frustration, share their opinions, or to discuss their ongoing conflicts. Sometimes what feels like a harmless post ends up being used as evidence in court. Despite what the family conflict involves, it is usually a general rule to assume that anything posted online can be used in front of a judge and reviewed as evidence.

Generally, with the evolution of social media and the online world, domestic violence does not always involve face-to-face interactions nowadays. All forms of online messaging, emails, and usage of social media can all become evidence in restraining order determinations in family court. While some communication that comes off as tense or rude does not justify using the court, other types of aggressive, threatening, or controlling online communication may be used as evidence to find harassment, stalking, cyber stalking, or other forms of domestic violence in New Jersey courts.

If you or a loved one believes you are a victim of domestic violence and is in need of a Restraining Order, please contact the skilled matrimonial attorneys at Sarno da Costa D’Aniello Maceri Webb LLC.  Call us today at (973) 274-5200.