He posted/she posted: Unpacking the affordances of social media evidence in sexual assault cases

Abstract

Drawing on communication affordance theory and literature on victim blaming, rape myths, and violence against women, this study uses a qualitative content analysis of 108 publicly available court judgements to examine the use of social media evidence in sexual assault trials in Canada. Our findings indicate that the defense and the prosecution use social media’s affordance of digital association to establish relational ties between victims and defendants. Both sides also draw on the persistence and visibility of social media to support different interpretations of the events surrounding the assault based on pre- and post-assault communications, especially as it relates to the matter of consent. Lastly, we find that news stories or public service announcements posted to social media are referenced in the courts as important motivators that encourage women to come forward about their assault.

Keywords

Social media affordances sexual violence rape myths qualitative content analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barta

(2021) Beacons over bridges: Hashtags visibility and sexual assault disclosure on social media. Information Communication & Society 24(14): 2195–2212. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2021.1962946.

Bélanger (2013) Direction Des Poursuites Criminelles et Pénales c. QCCQ 14247 (CanLII).

Boux

Daum

(2015) At the intersection of social media and rape culture: How Facebook postings texting and other personal communications challenge the ‘real’ rape myth in the criminal justice system. Journal of Law Technology & Policy 1: 149–186.

Boyd

(2010) Social network sites as networked publics: Affordances dynamics and implications. In Papacharissi

(Ed.) The Networked Self: Identity Community and Culture on Social Network Sites (pp. 39–58) Yale University Press.

Burt

(1980) Cultural myths and supports for rape. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 38(2): 217–230. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.38.2.217.

Canadian Legal Information Institute (2018) Scope of Databases. Available at: https://www.canlii.org/en/databases.html

Chiu

(2018) The legacy of Rehtaeh Parsons. CBC/Radio-Canada. Available at: https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/five-years-gone

Daly

(2022) Making new meanings: The entextualisation of digital communications evidence in English sexual offences trials. Crime Media Culture 18(4): 578–596.

Denault

(2020) Misconceptions about nonverbal cues to deception: A covert threat to the justice system? Frontiers in Psychology 11: 573460. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.573460.

10.

Dodge

(2017) The digital witness: The role of digital evidence in criminal justice responses to sexual violence. Feminist Theory 19(9): 1–19.

11.

Dodge

Spencer

Ricciardelli

, et al. (2019) “This isn’t your father’s police force”: Digital evidence in sexual assault investigations. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 52(4): 499–515. DOI: 10.1177/0004865819851544.

12.

Donat

D’Emilio

(1992) Feminist redefinition of rape and sexual assault: Historical foundations and change. Journal of Social Issues 48(1): 9–22.

13.

Dostal

(2018) Honest but Mistaken Belief in Communication Consent. The Criminal Law Notebook. Available at: https://criminalnotebook.ca/index.php/Honest_But_Mistaken_Belief_in_Communicated_Consent

14.

Dunn

Aikenhead

(2022) On the internet nobody knows you are a dog: Contested authorship of digital evidence in cases of gender-based violence. Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 19(2): 371. Available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4095209

15.

Ellison

Munro

(2009) Reacting to rape: Exploring mock jurors’ assessments of complainant credibility. British Journal of Criminology 2: 202–219.

16.

Erickson

(2017) Three men raped a woman in Sweden on Facebook Live. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/24/three-men-raped-a-woman-in-sweden-on-facebook-live/

17.

Garcia

(2003) Digital photographic evidence and the adjudication of domestic violence cases. Journal of Criminal Justice 31(1): 579–587. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2003.08.001.

18.

Gibson

(1986) The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Taylor & Francis.

19.

Gjika

(2020) New media old paradigms: News representations of technology in adolescent sexual assault. Crime Media Culture 16(3): 415–430. DOI: 10.1177/1741659019873758.

20.

Gjika

(2023) When Rape Goes Viral. University of California Press.

21.

Gjika

Stubbs-Richardson

Paul

(2025) From private to public: Narratives of gender-based violence among the everyday voices of the #MeToo Movement. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1177/08862605251319348.

22.

Groggel

Kokoris

Journet

(2024) Stereotypical victims: Visibility of #MeToo disclosures on Twitter. Violence Against Women. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1177/10778012241228288.

23.

Grubb

Turner

(2012) Attribution of blame in rape cases: A review of the impact of rape myth acceptance gender role conformity and substance use on victim blaming. Aggression and Violent Behavior 17(5): 443–452. DOI: 10.1016/j.avb.2012.06.002.

24.

Hargittai

Hsieh

(2010) Predictors and consequences of differentiated practices on social network sites. Information Communication & Society 13(4): 515–536. DOI: 10.1080/13691181003639866.

25.

Hlavka

Mulla

(2021) Bodies in Evidence: Race Gender and Science in Sexual Assault Adjudication. New York University Press.

26.

Hohl

Stanko

(2015) Complaints of rape and the criminal justice system: Fresh evidence on the attrition problem in England and Wales. European Journal of Criminology 12(3): 324–341.

27.

Johnson

(2012) Limits of a criminal justice response: Trends in police and court processing of sexual assault. In Sheehy

(Ed) Sexual Assault in Canada: Law Legal Practice and Women’s Activism (pp. 633–654) University of Ottawa Press.

28.

Kosloski

Diamond-Welch

Mann

(2018) The presence of rape myths in the virtual world: A qualitative textual analysis of the Steubenville sexual assault case. Violence and Gender 5(3): 166–173. DOI: 10.1089/vio.2017.0067.

29.

Krishnan

(2016) How rape victims’ social media feeds are being used against them in court. Vice. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/7bmbp4/how-rape-complainants-are-having-their-social-media-feeds-used-against-them-in-court

30.

Lane

(2018) The Digital Street. Oxford University Press.

31.

Larcombe

(2002) The ‘ideal’ victim v. successful rape complainants: Not what you might expect. Feminist Legal Studies 10: 131–148. DOI: 10.1023/a:1016060424945.

32.

Mai

Gruzd

(2022) The State of Social Media in Canada 2022. Social Media Lab Toronto Metropolitan University. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.21002848.

33.

Moor

(2010) She dresses to attract he perceives seduction: A gender gap in attribution of intent to women’s revealing style of dress and its relation to blaming the victims of sexual violence. Journal of International Women’s Studies 11(4): 108–127.

34.

Moore

Singh

(2018) Seeing crime feeling crime: Visual evidence emotions and the prosecution of domestic violence. Theoretical Criminology 22(1): 116–132. DOI: 10.1177/1362480616684194.

35.

Orchowski

Grocott

Bogen

, et al. (2022) Barriers to reporting sexual violence: A qualitative analysis of #WhyIDidntReport. Violence Against Women 28(14): 3530–3553. DOI: 10.1177/10778012221092479.

36.

Orevba

(2022) Manchester United striker arrested on suspicion of assault after girlfriend’s social media post. Sports Brief. Available at: https://sportsbrief.com/football/11075-manchester-united-striker-arrested-suspicion-assault-after-girlfriends-social-media-post/

37.

Porter

(2016, July 21) ‘Rape it was’: York University graduate student guilty of sexual assault in Mandi Gray case. Toronto Star. Available at: https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/rape-it-was-york-university-graduate-student-guilty-of-sexual-assault-in-mandi-gray-case/article_5fcbbf79-17cb-5a5d-80be-dff62c57b822.html

38.

Powell

(2015) Seeking rape justice: Formal and informal responses to sexual violence through technosocial counter-publics. Theoretical Criminology 19(4): 571–588. DOI: 10.1177/1362480615576271.

39.

Public Health Agency of Canada (2024, May 10) Message on sexual violence prevention month. www.canada.ca. Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2024/05/message-on-sexual-violence-prevention-month.html

40.

Quick

Choo

KKR

(2017) Pervasive social networking forensics: Intelligence and evidence from mobile device extracts. Journal of Network and Computer Applications 86: 24–33. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnca.2016.11.018.

41.

Ramirez

(2022) The digital divide in the US criminal justice system. New Media & Society 24(2): 514–529. DOI: 10.1177/14614448211063190.

42.

Ramirez

Denault

Carpenter

, et al. (2021) ‘But her age was not given on her Facebook profile’: Minors social media and sexual assault trials. Information Communication & Society 25: 1–17. DOI: 10.1080/1369118x.2021.1934065.

43.

Ramirez

Lane

(2019) Communication privacy management and digital evidence in an intimate partner violence case. International Journal of Communication 13: 5140–5157.

44.

Randall

(2010) Sexual assault law credibility and ideal victims: Consent resistance and victim blaming. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law 2: 397–433.

45.

Reuters (2017) Swedish court jails three men for rape broadcast on Facebook. Reuters. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-rape-facebook/swedish-court-jails-three-men-for-rape-broadcast-on-facebook-idUSKBN17R1S8

46.

Roberts

(2017) Three arrested in Sweden over ‘gang rape’ on Facebook Live. CNN. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/europe/sweden-rape-facebook-live/index.html

47.

R. c. Bensaadi, 2021 QCCQ 2216 (CanLII).

48.

R. c. Ofter, 2020 QCCQ 3139 (CanLII).

49.

R. c. Touchette, 2014 QCCQ 2039 (CanLII).

50.

R. v. B.A., 2019 ONSC 79 (CanLII)

51.

R. v. Bartmann, 2020 NLSC 140 (CanLII).

52.

R. v. Batchelor, 2022 ONSC 313 (CanLII).

53.

R. v. Beaudoin, 2016 ONCJ 803 (CanLII).

54.

R. v. Corneau, 2019 BCSC 2349 (CanLII).

55.

R. v. Fryday, 2022 ONSC 337 (CanLII).

56.

R. v. J.V.D., 2016 ONSC 4462 (CanLII).

57.

R. v. Heard, 2019 ONCJ 651 (CanLII).

58.

R. v. Heintzelman, 2018 BCPC 354 (CanLII).

59.

R. v. L.H., 2020 ONSC 7961 (CanLII).

60.

R. v. L.M.F., 2013 BCPC 183 (CanLII).

61.

R. v. N.G.D., 2020 MBPC 17 (CanLII).

62.

R. v. S.L., 2020 NSSC 95 (CanLII).

63.

R. v. Singh, 2019 BCSC 1731(CanLII).

64.

R. v. Softic, 2013 ABPC 317 (CanLII).

65.

R. v. Stewart, 2021 BCPC 111 (CanLII).

66.

R. v. T.S., 2018 ONCJ 903 (CanLII).

67.

Salter

(2013) Justice and revenge in online counter-publics: Emerging responses to sexual violence in the age of social media. Crime Media Culture 9(3): 225–242. DOI: 10.1177/1741659013493918.

68.

Segal

(2015) Independent Review of the Police and Prosecution Response to the Rehtaeh Parsons Case. Available at: https://novascotia.ca/segalreport/Parsons-Independent-Review.pdf

69.

Spring

(2022) A social media murder: Olly’s story. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61813959

70.

Steeves

(2015) Pretty and just a little bit sexy I guess: Publicity privacy and the pressure to perform appropriate feminity on social media. In Bailey

Steeves

(Eds.) eGirls eCitizens (pp. 15–174) Ottawa Canada: University of Ottawa Press.

71.

Tracy

(2013) Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence Crafting Analysis Communicating Impact. Wiley-Blackwell.

72.

Treem

Leonardi

(2012) Social media use in organizations. Communication Yearbook 36(1): 143–189. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2129853.

73.

Watson

(2018, February 8) Top challenges and changes in the use of digital forensic evidence. Cellebrite. Available at: https://cellebrite.com/en/webinar-top-challenges-and-changes-in-the-use-of-digital-forensics-evidence/

74.

World Health Organization (2024, March 25) Violence against women. www.who.int. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/violence-against-women

75.

Zhu

Miao

(2021) Should I click the “like” button for my colleague? Domesticating social media affordance in the workplace. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media 65(5): 741–760. DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2021.1991350.