‘I have receipts!’: FB Messenger photos and chats can be used as evidence
You probably heard your friend say, ‘I can show you receipts!‘, as they share a story and match it with screenshots. While it sounds like a casual thing, the Supreme Court (SC) said that receipts a.k.a. proofs, specifically private persons’ photos and messages from Facebook Messenger, can now be used as court evidence.
On June 17, the SC shared the ruling following the conviction of Christian Cadajas for violating Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act. The top court didn’t grant his petition against using chat messages as evidence since it violated his right to privacy.
Associate Justice Jhosep Lopez wrote the decision and explained that Cadajas, who was then 24 years old, started a romantic relationship with a female minor back in 2016. He coaxed the girl, who was only 14 years old, to send photos of her private body parts in their FB Messenger conversation.
The SC noted that the petitioner’s right to privacy wasn’t violated since he gave his FB Messenger password to the minor.
The female minor’s mother saw her daughter’s chat with Cadajas and forced her to open his FB Messenger account to get a copy of their conversation. The girl had previously deleted the messages on her account.
The SC ruling added, ‘The availability of accessing these photos limited the scope of his (Cadajas) right to privacy, especially that these became essential in pursuing AAA’s (female minor) claims to protect her rights.’
The Rules on Electronic Evidence don’t exactly state that chats and photos on social media are allowed as court evidence. But photo, video, and audio evidence of criminal acts are permitted to be raised as case evidence given that it will be shown in the court and will be “identified, explained, or authenticated” by the individual behind the recording.
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Source: we the pvblic
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