Vigilante Social Media Groups & Trial By Social Media

SGT Christopher Camacho — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:45:40 -0500

In recent weeks there's been a focus on service members and their lack of decorum on social media. There's already been posts on here addressing those specific photos -- that's not what I want to discuss here. In light of these recent posts, groups such as 'Military Social Media Idiots' have popped up on Facebook and are posting pictures daily of those they deem inappropriate. Let's not focus on the pictures they post; let's discuss the ideology and purpose of the page. Synopsis - the page curates photos/videos from around the web of what appears to be service members doing what this group considers unbecoming of a service member. The page claims they are 'going to put a stop to [service members being idiots online] one way or another.' Also that they run the page 'hopes of tracking down who these individuals are and making sure appropriate actions are taken.' The 'making sure appropriate actions are taken' bit is where my concern lies. Do you think this group (or any of its sort) should be commended for their purpose or are they on a witch hunt? Are groups like this who 'expose' service members publicly helping the military or amplifying the focus on our social media dirty laundry?

Response by CW2 Joseph Evans made Mar 7 at 2014 1:55 PM

CW2 Joseph Evans — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:55:14 -0500

I think the Social Media Vigilantes are only making the problem worse. The amount of "research" they have been investing as well as their own Social Media following have created issues not only for the Soldier that go way beyond what was needed to correct the problem, but they also shut down unit functions when they post unit and commander phone numbers so that "private citizens" who are in no way shape or form impacted by the Soldier's actions, call to voice their "outrage".

I personally think the Social Media hacks bent on giving these morons their 5 minutes of fame need to have charges preferred (UCMJ if military, Federal DOJ if civilian) if their actions adversely affect unit operations or if their portrayal of the situation is unfairly damaging, libelous or slanderous to the Soldier, the Unit or the Service.