Disability Benefits Social Media Monitored

If You Get Federal Disability Benefits, Watch What You Post

The Government is monitoring the social media accounts of people receiving federal disability benefits.

Yes, that’s right. Good ol’ Uncle Sam is watching what you do.

They are doing it as a way to catch people that are obtaining federal disability benefits who are not actually disabled.

For instance, if a person claims federal disability benefits for something like an injured back but posts a picture of themselves playing basketball on Facebook, it could be used as evidence to dispute the validity of the claim.

It’s likely that they have already been snooping around on Social Security disability claimants Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages for a while now.

Last year in their budget request to Congress, Social Security said it planned to expand the use of social media as a way to help in disability determinations and “increase program integrity and expedite the identification of fraud.”

The White House has been diligently working alongside The Social Security Administration to expedite the proposal as soon as possible.

They believe social media has a smorgasbord of information about people who are applying for or receiving disability benefits.

However, advocates for those with disabilities say pictures posted on social media can’t be held as “reliable” because of the fact that just because someone posts a picture of themselves playing basketball in 2019 doesn’t mean they were actually playing basketball in 2019.

A lot of the time when people are hospitalized on disabled they like to remember themselves when they were happy and whole.

“Social media sites are not exactly clear and reliable evidence, Facebook puts up phony websites all the time.”

Over 10 million people are currently getting Social Security disability benefits. That equates to over $11 billion per month. Beneficiaries pay into this system via payroll taxes.

Not many would argue that the federal disability benefits program is not without its share of fraudulent claims.

But is monitoring the social media accounts of people really the answer?

The number of people applying for disability benefits has been steadily falling (Down 30% from last year). Some say it’s due to a strengthening economy, some say that it’s because of the explosion of telecommunicating jobs that enable people to perform a job they would not have otherwise had the opportunity to do.

Whatever the case, there is no disputing that disability fraud does indeed exist. There is no disputing the toll it takes on the system as a whole and the effect it has on the people that really need the benefits.

Changes are certainly on the horizon. We are being monitored more and more. Everything you post can and will be used against you.