Social media checks for public-trust jobs
Short answer: Police, fire, EMS, military and security clearance applicants can each have their online history reviewed as part of a background investigation, and the details differ by role. Start with the guide for your field below, then check your own exports before you apply.
This page summarizes our own guides, which carry the sources. It isn't legal advice, and each agency's process can differ.
Police applicants
If you're applying to a police department, expect one of the most thorough social media reviews of any job. It's usually done by the agency's own background investigators, often includes listing every account you have, and focuses heavily on bias, illegal activity, and violence. Clean up before you apply, then be completely honest once the process starts.
Read the full guide: Social media background checks for police applicants. Police cases in Found Later.
Firefighters, EMS and military
Some fire departments tell applicants in writing that social media is reviewed, and fire, EMS and military personnel have lost jobs over posts after hiring. Military members are subject to the UCMJ for what they post. Review your history, read your agency's policy, and check photos and private groups by hand.
Read the full guide: Social media checks for firefighters, EMS and military. Fire, EMS and military cases in Found Later.
Security clearances
Under SEAD 5, federal investigators can review your publicly available social media during a security clearance background investigation. SEAD 5 is a 2016 directive from the Director of National Intelligence. They can't access password-protected content, and what they find is weighed against the national security adjudicative guidelines. Clean up before you apply, then be completely honest.
Read the full guide: Security clearance and social media (SEAD 5).
Before you apply
- Request your exports now. Some take a day or more. The export checklist lists each platform and its wait.
- Run the free preview on the platform that holds most of your activity, then add the others as they arrive.
- Remove or fix what matters, then be fully honest if an investigator asks. Deleting accounts after you've applied can look like concealment.
See what your own history looks like
A guide can tell you what investigators look for. It can't tell you what's in your own exports. The free preview scores 50 items from yours.
PruneSocial scores supported text activity from your own account exports against publicly documented screening categories and gives you one specific cleanup action for anything flagged.
Start a free preview