Social media claims against individuals are increasing, yet insurance coverage
for individuals for such claims is rarely available unless the insured has a personal
injury endorsement to the standard homeowners policy or the insured has an
umbrella policy, or the rare company-specific insurer includes such coverage. This
suggests a market opportunity to provide this coverage. Underwriting this exposure
will likely require examining social media as a new rate factor. Obtaining relevant
information on this and showing predictive indicators is one challenge, particularly
where social media use liability might be correlated with other factors, including
other external data. Such factors will have to be approved by state insurance
regulators and shown to be reliable and not unfairly discriminatory. This will likely
open these factors to underwrite other coverages and policies, even if not approved
or reliable. Some social media use might actually be a business pursuit, thus
requiring this added coverage. A media liability policy crafted for the new exposure
might be more effective to provide coverage if underwriting the factors can be
regulated.