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Instagram and Tumblr posts result in arrests

Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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Two stories this week highlight how you should be careful what you post on social media. Rapper Neno Best was caught in the biggest gun bust in New York City history, after posting images of weaponry on Instagram. Meanwhile, a 20 year old college student was arrested after posting a ‘joke’ threat on Tumblr.

Matthew Best, also known as Neno Best, posted lots of (now deleted) photos of illegally smuggled guns on Instagram. According to The New York Observer, Best had been under investigation for drugs, which is how his social media activity on Instagram and YouTube came to the Police’s attention. While the gun photos have been removed, you can still see a photo of a bag of money and quite a lot of drugs in Best’s photo stream.

Instagram and Tumblr posts result in arrests

In Georgia, 20 year old Caleb Clemmons posted on Tumblr,

‘hello. my name is irenigg and i plan on shooting up Georgia southern. pass this around to see the affect it has. to see if i get arrested.’

He was promptly arrested around three hours later, and is facing up to five years in prison if found guilty of ‘making terroristic threats via computer’.

There have been similar stories about ‘jokes’ posted on Twitter in the United Kingdom, and they all highlight how when using social media you must be aware that not everyone will find you funny. Making public threats, sarcastically or not is likely to be taken seriously by authorities, and posting evidence of illegal behavior is clearly going to get you into trouble.

For the majority of us who aren’t involved in gun smuggling, these stories do serve to remind us that by default what you post on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter is completely public. It’s worth remembering that before you post anything that might be misunderstood by people outside your immediate friends.

Facebook too encourages you to be as public as possible. Make sure you have the privacy settings you want on Facebook. Find our how in this article.

[Sources: The New York Observer, The Verge ]

Jonathan Riggall

Jonathan Riggall

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