Man explains how people can access someone else's deleted social media posts and it's mind-boggling

Social media has become a massive part of our daily lives. While it has its merits, people need to be careful about what they post online as it can also be used against them. One would think that deleting social media posts would solve this problem, but that does not seem to be a viable solution, as nothing goes unnoticed on the internet. Kevin Roberts–who goes by @srhoe on TikTok–shared a video revealing how anybody can use a website to find posts and comments deleted from social media. The video has garnered 1.6 million views and around 1,800 comments on the platform.

Roberts starts the video by stating that it felt illegal to know such a website existed. He then says, "This is why you got to be careful posting stuff on the internet because whatever you delete can be found. And I found it." The creator breaks it down by giving an example of a person who is very active on Twitter, frequently posting things. Hypothetically, if the person was posting controversial stuff and then decided that they wanted to change, they would delete all their posts. But this tool on the internet would still be able to find controversial posts that were deleted.

He demonstrates this by going to his computer, opening Google and searching for "web archive." The first result we see is for a website called the Wayback Machine, which he opens up. Roberts shares, "And this is not just for, like, deleting messages; it's also for books and websites, absolutely anything." Essentially, any information posted on the internet at some point would have a record on the website, even if it was taken down or modified later. To search for that particular thing, people have to find the URL of their social media account and paste it into the website's search bar.

Roberts is looking at his own Twitter account and adds a "status" to the end of the URL, stating how that was the way it worked when anyone made a post. Once he searches for it, the website gives a list of links that contains all the posts he deleted, going way back in time. He clicks one of them and the website proceeds to show the deleted post, shocking the creator. His revelation left a few viewers worried and they chimed in with their concerns in the comments section.

@therealchipeater pointed out, "It doesn't work if the social media account is private for those who are curious." Another individual, @oiggemini, commented, "Nothing is truly deleted. Once it's on the internet, it's stored and saved somewhere in some elite database forever." @missonnie said, "Companies now have people dedicated to HR just doing this very thing." @w3b_71r1x expressed, "This also relies on proper indexing by WBM; they don't always catch and index everything." 

You can follow Kevin Roberts (@srhoe) on TikTok and Instagram for more content about privacy and ethical hacking.