Fama Social Media Screening Errors

If a Fama social-media screening report is standing between you and a job, an inaccurate or misattributed report is not something you have to accept. Fama is a consumer reporting agency under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), so you can see what it reports and force it to correct mistakes. You can learn more on our Employment Background Checks page.

What is Fama?

Fama (Fama Technologies) is a Los Angeles-based social-media and online screening company. Employers use it to analyze applicants' public online activity for potential red flags, and it reports the results as a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA.

How to contact Fama

You can request your report and file a dispute directly:

• Company: Fama Technologies, Los Angeles, CA
• Website: fama.io (consumer / dispute portal)
• Request: ask for a copy of your report and dispute errors through Fama

Confirm the current dispute channel on your report or the company's consumer notice before submitting, and keep copies of what you send.

Common Fama errors we see

• Posts or accounts that are not yours, matched to you by name or a common handle
• Content taken out of context or misclassified as a red flag
• Old, deleted, or satirical posts treated as current conduct
• Someone else's offensive content attributed to you through a mixed profile
• Protected-class or lawful off-duty activity flagged improperly
• Wrong personal information linking you to accounts you never had

How a Fama error hurts you

Social-media screens often reach the employer after a conditional offer, and a misattributed or out-of-context post can cost you the job. The FCRA gives you the right to see the report and dispute it first.

Fama's track record with regulators

Fama operates in the social-media-screening corner of an industry regulators watch closely.

Fama appears on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's public list of consumer reporting companies, and automated social-media screening raises well-documented FCRA accuracy concerns — misattributed accounts and out-of-context content — that the CFPB has flagged. Source: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If your Fama report is inaccurate, that supports demanding a correction.

Your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

Fama must follow the FCRA. It must use reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy (§1681e(b)); it must reinvestigate disputes (§1681i); and before an employer rejects you, it must give you the report and a summary of rights (§1681b(b)(3) pre-adverse-action).

How to dispute a Fama report

1. Ask the employer for the copy of the report and summary of rights they must provide.
2. Identify every post or account that is not yours or is mischaracterized.
3. Gather proof — screenshots, account records, or identity documents.
4. Dispute in writing to Fama, enclosing copies and keeping a dated record.
5. If it is not corrected, or the report already cost you the job, contact an FCRA attorney.

This information is general and is not legal advice for your specific situation.

Did an inaccurate Fama report cost you a job?

Social-media screening reports are consumer reports under the FCRA, and Fama has to follow strict accuracy rules. When a report is wrong and it costs you a job, you may be entitled to money damages — and our review is free.

How The Kim Law Firm helps

We are consumer-protection lawyers who handle FCRA cases nationwide. We help people whose Fama report is inaccurate — posts that are not yours, content taken out of context, or a mixed profile. We do not help people trying to hide their own accurate conduct. If your report is wrong, we pursue the correction and any damages, and you do not pay unless we win.

Admitted in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; available to appear pro hac vice in other federal courts.

Misattribution: when the posts belong to somebody else

Matching a person to an online account is far harder than matching a person to a court record, because there are no identifiers to match on. A social media screen usually works from a name, sometimes a city, sometimes a photograph. Common names, old handles, abandoned accounts, parody accounts and impersonation accounts all sit in the same search results, and nothing in the process requires a date of birth or the last four digits of a Social Security number before content is attributed to you.

• Ferretly — another company using automated analysis to scan public social media activity for employers.
• Social Intelligence — a California social media screener whose reports are now handled by a successor company.
• Accurate Background — a national screener where the same identity-matching problem appears in criminal searches.
• Checkr — running high-volume screening where a mismatched identity can propagate quickly.
• First Advantage background check errors — screening across more than 200 countries and territories, where names appear in many forms.

If a screening report describes an account you do not own, say so precisely and in writing: this handle is not mine, I have never used this platform, this photograph is not me. Then ask what identifiers the agency used to make the match. The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy, and attributing a stranger's posts to you on the strength of a shared name does not meet that standard.

Screened by a different company? We also handle Ferretly social media screening errors, Checkr background check errors, and First Advantage background check errors — and you can start with our overview of the major background check companies.

Frequently asked questions

How do I dispute a Fama report?

Get the report from the employer or Fama, identify the posts or accounts that are wrong or misattributed, and dispute them in writing with proof. If it is not fixed, an FCRA attorney can help.

Fama attributed someone else's posts to me — what can I do?

Dispute it in writing with evidence that the content is not yours, and ask the employer to hold the decision. If it is not corrected, contact an FCRA attorney.

Is Fama the same company as Social Intelligence?

They are now one company. Social Intelligence was acquired by Fama Technologies, and the socialintel.com site is run under the Fama name. An adverse action letter can name one while the report carries the other, so send your dispute to whichever entity produced the report and keep a copy of anything naming Social Intelligence.

What is Fama allowed to look at?

Fama says its reports carry only publicly available material that its filters flag as potentially job-relevant, and that everything else is left out. It also says it filters out information tied to protected characteristics, naming race, religion, national origin, disability, pregnancy, family status, gender presentation, sexual orientation, age and military status. Consent is required either way: under the FCRA the employer needed your written authorization before ordering the screening.

How do I get a copy of my Fama report?

Fama states that, as with any other consumer report, you are entitled to a copy of what your employer received. Requests and disputes go to 888-748-3281, or to Fama Technologies, 735 State Street, Suite 211, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. Get the report before you dispute, because a social media report has to be answered post by post, and you cannot do that until you see which posts it used.

Can I sue Fama for a screening error?

Possibly. If Fama reported inaccurate or misattributed information or ignored the FCRA's adverse-action rules and you were harmed, you may have a claim.

Is the case review really free?

Yes. There is no charge, and you pay nothing unless we win.

Where we practice, and what to do if you are somewhere else

The Kim Law Firm is licensed in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and that is where we handle matters directly.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is a federal statute. It applies the same way in every state, it is enforced in federal court, and the deadlines and remedies do not change when you cross a state line. So the answer to "does this apply to me in Ohio" is yes — but the answer to "can you represent me in Ohio" depends on the case and on where it would be filed.

If you are outside Pennsylvania and New Jersey, contact us anyway. Some matters can be handled from here. Some are better sent to a consumer lawyer admitted where you are, and we will tell you that plainly rather than let a deadline run while you wait. Either way you will get an answer, and the review costs nothing.

The one thing that does not wait is the clock. A claim under the Act generally must be brought within two years of the date you discover the violation, and in no event more than five years after the violation occurred. Finding out late does not extend the outside limit.