Social Media Evidence of Alleged Gross Human Rights Abuses: Improving Preservation and Access Through Policy Reform

Potentially crucial digital evidence of gross human rights violations that occur outside the United States is being lost. The absence of a specific legal mandate and protocol by which this evidence could be routinely preserved and accessed is a problem that the United States Congress will need to help solve. This paper builds on the Yale Genocide Studies Program’s Mass Atrocities in the Digital Era (MADE) initiative’s three-month consultation process with a diverse range of civil society stakeholders working to improve preservation of digital evidence. It considers how U.S. potential liability has limited sharing social media data with stakeholders in the human rights community and presents three potential legal processes to address this issue. This work promotes justice and accountability for alleged gross human rights abuses.