Metadata is a summary of basic information of electronic data. Examples of this type of data would be; an author, location, geographical information, date created and date modified, and file size. These are all examples of very basic document metadata information. This data is typically hidden within the file. It can be found in all types of files including videos, photos, webpages, and more. This information also makes it easier to back up social media evidence in a court of law for attorneys as subjects may later delete posts from their social media channels. However, with metadata reports, you can still see information about those deleted posts. Within social media investigations, this specific information is an extremely helpful resource for cases.
In the courtroom, metadata can also show the source of the photo i.e. what type of phone IOS version, technological devices, or if any editing software was used within the metadata details. All of this information is important to the parties within the legal case and our social media investigators have had experience in providing expert witness testimony on the reports that we complete.
We provide our clients with the metadata report along with the social media report when we are conducting social media investigations on the subject(s). This report is structured in a PDF version that is given to our clients along with the detailed investigation report.
If you have any questions about metadata or what that will look like within your specific social media investigation, you can always contact our investigators by calling (714) 646-4545 or submitting a contact form to us by clicking here.