Social media is a public record. The problem is that the networks are not built to keep one: posts get edited, comments get deleted, stories disappear after a day, and staff turnover takes account access with it. CivAll Archive captures your activity as it happens and keeps its own copy, so the record survives whatever happens on the network afterward.
What gets captured
Each connected account is captured across several sources, depending on what the network supports:
| Source | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Content | Posts you publish, including edits and later deletions |
| Inbox | Comments on your posts and direct messages |
| Reviews | Reviews left on your page, where the network offers them |
| Tagged posts | Posts by others that tag your account |
Stories and photo albums are captured as well on the networks that have them. Coverage differs by network because the networks themselves differ in what they make available — the Records count on the Archives page breaks down what has been captured for each account, by type.
What "tamper-evident" means here
Every captured record is written once and never altered. Each one carries a timestamp issued by an independent timestamping authority, which is what lets you show a record existed in a particular form at a particular moment rather than simply asserting it. The audit log records every action anyone takes on the archive, in a linked chain, so the handling of a record is itself part of the record.
Practically, that means three things you can rely on:
- A deleted post stays in your archive. The Archive marks it Deleted; the content remains.
- An edited post keeps its earlier versions. You can see what it said before.
- You can prove what you produced. An export is reproducible and its contents are verifiable.
Important
CivAll Archive keeps its own copy — it does not restore anything to the network. Deleting a post on Facebook removes it from Facebook. The archived copy stays in your archive, which is exactly the behavior a records request depends on.
Where things live
CivAll Archive is organized around five screens, in the Archive section of the navigation:
- Archives — one row per connected account, with its connection health.
- Search — search across every archive at once, with saved views.
- Cases — collect records into a labeled set for a request, an investigation, or litigation.
- Alerts — get told when captured content matches keywords you care about.
- Audit Log — every action taken on the archive, and by whom.
Getting started
- Connect the accounts you need archived — see Adding an archive.
- Let the initial history capture finish. New archives backfill available history before settling into ongoing capture, and the Records count on the Archives page climbs while that is happening.
- Check the Source health and State columns — see Reading archive health.