Pre-publication checklist for activists

Check people, places, times, social media accounts, files, links, and post-publication response before activist communication goes out.

When publishing posts or materials about activism, not only you but also allies, participants, venues, and supporters may become visible.

Photos, videos, posting times, location information, group chats, shared files, and social media accounts. A single overlooked item can lead back to everyone involved.

This checklist is for checking before activity reports, announcements, photo posts, and material sharing.

The purpose is not to stop activity.

It is to reduce unnecessary exposure while continuing necessary communication.

Check whether people appear

First, check whether participants or allies appear.

Even if faces are blurred, clothing or belongings can still identify people.

When checking people, look not only at whether the person appears, but also at whether the fact that they participated becomes visible. Even if the face is not visible, distinctive clothing, shoes, bags, placards, standing position, height, or gait can reveal that it is the same person. When combined with other photos, past posts, news footage, or security-camera footage, the candidate set can narrow even if the face is hidden.

The consent of people who appear is also important. Some people do not want their workplace, school, or family to know they participated in an activity. Before publishing, check the people who appear, people who may appear, and even passersby in the background.

Check place and time

Next, check the place and time.

Real-time posting from the site shows current location and travel routes.

If it is not necessary, post after leaving the site.

Place and time should be viewed in combination, not separately. A station name alone is a clue to the place. A posting time alone is a clue to activity time. But when a station name and posting time overlap, they show that someone was at that place at that time.

For activity reports, consider whether immediacy is really necessary. Separate information that must go out now, information that can wait until after the event, and information that should not be published. Posts before assembly, during movement, or immediately after dispersal can endanger participants and movement routes.

Check social media and accounts

Check whether the activist account and personal account are mixed.

Before posting, always look at which account you are posting from.

When checking accounts, look not only at the posting screen but also at surrounding screens. Screenshots may include notifications, DMs, icons from other accounts, browser tabs, bookmarks, or file names. There is also the mistake of intending to post from an activist account but replying from the real-name account.

Before posting, review the whole screen once. Which app is it? Which account is it? What appears in notifications? Is the sharing destination correct? This check also reduces the risk of misposting.

Check files and links

When publishing materials, images, videos, or shared links, check file information.

Disable shared links that are no longer needed.

Files and links are information that is hard to retrieve once it spreads after publication. If a shared link is set to "anyone with the link," you cannot control where it is forwarded. Publishing an editable link also creates the danger that the content can be rewritten. For shared folders, check whether anything other than the intended file is visible.

For images and videos, check not only the edited version but also where the source data is stored. If unedited photos remain in a real-name cloud account or shared folder, risk remains even if the published version is made safer.

Decide how to respond after publication

Backlash or harassment can happen after publication.

Before posting, decide who replies, how DMs are handled, and what deletion criteria are used.

Pre-publication checks include post-publication operation.

If post-publication response is decided only after a problem occurs, it is late. During attacks or backlash, judgment drops. Decide in advance who replies, who preserves evidence, who contacts people involved, and who decides deletion.

Review everything at the end

At the end, review the post or materials as a whole, not as separate items. Line up the body text, images, videos, files, links, posting time, account, and reply policy, and check them together.

The checklist is not meant to slow activity. It is a procedure for reducing unnecessary exposure so necessary communication can continue.

In some cases, it is better not to carry out the check alone. People appearing in photos, people who know the venue, and people responsible for social media operation see different things. However, increasing the number of reviewers also widens the sharing scope, so use a small number of trusted people.

For information you are unsure about publishing, it is also necessary to decide not to publish it for the time being. Activity reports can be published later, but faces, places, and movement routes that have spread once are hard to retrieve. Having a rule for temporarily holding uncertain information reduces mistakes caused by publishing on momentum.

Summary

In a pre-publication check for activists, check people, places, times, social media, files, and post-publication response.

Photos and videos include faces, clothing, backgrounds, reflections, and sound.

Social media posts leave posting times, replies, accounts, and notifications.

Shared files leave metadata, owner names, and edit history.

For activist communication, you need the perspective of protecting not only yourself, but also allies and venues.

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