Could Your Use of Social Media Impact Your Social Security Disability Benefits?

You’re probably used to the idea of social media platforms tracking your online habits, but if you think it’s just a ploy to compel you to spend money in online shopping portals, think again. The day could be coming when the federal government uses Facebook to monitor your eligibility for disability benefits.

As well-respected Social Security disability attorneys, we naturally took great interest in recent news stories about Social Security disability benefits and social media. According to a New York Times article published in mid-March, Social Security has proposed using social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, essentially, to spy on people who claim federal disability benefits and make sure they’re not collecting those benefits under false pretenses. In other words, the goal is to prevent fraud.

Suppose you’re an individual over the age of 65, or you’re blind or disabled, and you’re receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to meet your basic needs. You file a personal injury lawsuit, using Silver & Silver, the leading SSI lawyers in Philadelphia, to fight for you.

The word “disabled” encompasses a broad spectrum of medical conditions—both physical and mental. As disability and SSI lawyers in Philadelphia, we have clients with a spectrum of disabling medical conditions. These can range from hearing loss and vision impairments to paralysis, Parkinson’s, chronic pain, and so many more.

The Social Security program is one of the most widely used federal support programs in the United States, paying benefits to more than 60 million Americans each year. These benefits provide critical funds to pay for living expenses for retired and disabled Americans.

In a recent case victory in Federal Court, attorney Joe Silver of Silver & Silver helped to overturn a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) decision to deny Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits to his client, winning her an award…

The aim of the disability insurance process is to identify applicants with qualifying debilitating medical conditions and supply them with the disability insurance benefits they need to survive. While this sounds simple and straightforward, in practicality, it is not. For many disabled individuals, the determination process comes with lengthy delays and results in a substantial rate of denial notices for individuals with legitimate claims, which is called the reconsideration stage.