New Yorkers’ ‘Private’ Facebook Posts Not Private in Court

Facebook Inc. has come under heavy scrutiny for allowing other companies to harvest its users’ data. Those same users, especially New Yorkers, also should know their posts, even those marked “private,” can be used against them in some state courts.

“The terms of Facebook and all other companies make clear they’ll comply with subpoenas,” Paul Alan Levy of Public Citizen Litigation Group in Washington told Bloomberg Law.

“Certainly, individual consumers should recognize that sometimes it’s just dumb to put things online,” he said.

Levy’s practice includes litigating cases involving free speech on the internet. He tends to oppose parties’ access ...