Give Clients This Instruction Before Anything Else
Before a complaint is drafted, before a demand letter goes out, before a platform report is filed — tell the client to take screenshots. I say this to nearly every attorney who consults me about a new internet defamation matter, and I say it based on years of watching cases where the single limiting factor wasn't the strength of the underlying claim, it was that the evidence was gone by the time anyone thought to capture it properly. This page is written to be handed directly to a client at the first meeting.
Instructions for the Client
A cropped screenshot of just the offending sentence isn't enough. Capture the full page, including the visible URL in the browser's address bar, the date and time (the device's clock, plus the platform's own timestamp on the post if one is shown), the poster's username or profile, and any surrounding context — comments, replies, or engagement — that shows how the content was being seen and shared. If the device supports a full-page screenshot rather than just the visible window, use it. On most browsers, "print to PDF" also captures a full, scrollable page well and preserves more context than a simple screen capture.
Beyond the Screenshot
Where possible, also save the page's source (most browsers let you save a full webpage, not just an image), note the exact date and time the capture was made, and if possible, capture the poster's profile page separately, since profile information can change or disappear independently of the specific post. I recommend counsel ask the client to send these materials directly, unedited, rather than describing what they saw, so the underlying files are preserved in their original form.
Mistakes to Warn Clients About
Advise clients not to engage with or comment on the post before it's been preserved — that can prompt the poster to delete or edit it. Advise against relying on a single screenshot alone; capture the profile, the post, and any related comments separately. And stress that waiting, even a day, can cost the case its best evidence — content on social media can disappear faster than clients expect, particularly once a poster suspects legal consequences are coming.