Internet and social media
A post can identify more people than the person who publishes it
A.A. guidance asks members to assume that posting and texting are publication at the public level. The relevant clues include names, faces, voices, tags, locations, meeting details, account connections, and the surrounding conversation.
Read A.A. Guidelines on Internet current guidanceIdentity
A first name alone may not protect a recognizable person. A face, handle, employer, voice, location, or relationship can complete the identification.
Connection to A.A.
Ask whether the post, group title, caption, event, check-in, or surrounding comments connect the identifiable person with A.A. membership.
Reach
Privacy settings reduce an audience but do not prevent screenshots, forwarding, account compromise, policy changes, or another participant’s disclosure.
Photographs and video
Look beyond the main subject
Faces in the background, name badges, license plates, meeting signs, captions, and automatic tags can identify people who never agreed to public exposure. Livestreaming adds risk because review happens after publication.
Tags and comments
A connection can reveal membership
Tagging a person in recovery content, naming who attended, or replying in a public thread may identify another member even when that person’s own profile says nothing about A.A.
Online meetings
The meeting is private only to the extent its practices make it so
Meeting links, visible participant names, recordings, screenshots, chat exports, shared devices, and public schedules require deliberate handling. An online meeting is not automatically protected because it uses a password.
Personal profiles
Your disclosure can remain your choice
A member controls personal disclosure, but public identification as an A.A. member brings Tradition Eleven into the decision. A personal account does not make a public post a private conversation.
Group and service accounts
Carry information without displaying members
An account can publish schedules, contacts, literature links, and service information without naming administrators or showing identifiable members as promotional personalities.
Recordings and talks
Publication changes the audience
A talk delivered to an A.A. audience may later become public media. A.A.’s memo to audio technicians asks that public recordings not contain full names or identifiable faces of members.
“Private” and “closed” require continuing care
A closed group may be useful, but it still relies on every participant, the platform, account security, and future sharing. A.A.’s Internet guideline recommends considering how names, photos, membership, and access are handled through a group conscience rather than assuming a platform label settles the question.
If identifying material has already been published, begin by limiting further circulation and protecting anyone else it identifies. Removing or correcting content when possible is a practical response, although copies may remain. For contact with the person responsible, A.A.’s service experience favors courteous, nonpunitive communication that explains the anonymity Traditions and asks for greater care going forward.
- Anonymity Online and Digital MediaOfficial service material for digital settings
- Protecting other people onlineA.A.’s direct answer about social media responsibility
- Memo to Audio TechniciansRecorded talks and public platforms
- Sample guide lettersCourteous, nonpunitive responses to public anonymity breaks