## Facts

- Tony Jefferson Browne used a Facebook account under the name “Billy Button” to exchange sexually explicit messages and images with Nicole Dalmida and, using access to Dalmida’s account, communicated with four minors.
- Browne allegedly threatened to publish victims’ images unless they engaged in sexual acts and provided additional explicit images.
- Law enforcement arrested Browne, searched his residence, and seized a cell phone containing messages and images; Browne admitted owning the phone and the “Billy Button” Facebook account.
- Facebook produced five sets of chat logs to the government along with a records-custodian certificate attesting to authenticity of the records produced from Facebook’s systems.
- At trial, Dalmida and minors testified about their chats with “Billy Button” and related in-person encounters; some identified Browne as “Billy Button.”
- Browne testified he owned the relevant Facebook account and phone and admitted chatting with Dalmida and at least two minors; his testimony and other evidence matched details reflected in the chats.
- The district court admitted the chat logs; one log reflected a conversation between Dalmida and a minor about an alleged sexual assault by Browne (Browne was not a participant).
- A jury convicted Browne of multiple child pornography and sexual offenses; Browne appealed, challenging admission of the Facebook chats.

## Issues

1. Whether Facebook chat content qualifies as a business record under Fed. R. Evid. 803(6) and is self-authenticating under Fed. R. Evid. 902(11) based on a custodian certificate.
2. If not self-authenticating, whether the government presented sufficient evidence under Fed. R. Evid. 901(a) to authenticate the chat logs as the relevant communications.
3. Whether admission of a chat log between two third parties (not including Browne) was inadmissible hearsay, and if so, whether the error required reversal.

## Decision

- The Third Circuit affirmed the convictions.
- The court held the substantive content of Facebook user-to-user chats is not a business record under Rule 803(6) and therefore cannot be self-authenticated under Rule 902(11) solely by a custodian certificate.
- The court held the chats were properly authenticated under Rule 901(a) because the record contained sufficient extrinsic and circumstantial evidence linking Browne and the victims to the communications.
- The court held the third-party chat was hearsay not covered by an exception, but its admission was harmless given the strength of properly admitted evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Rule 803(6) business-record status does not extend to the truth-bearing substantive content of third-party user communications merely because a platform stores and produces it; a custodian certificate may establish provenance from the platform’s system but does not, by itself, attribute authorship of user statements.
- Under Rule 901(a), electronic communications may be authenticated by evidence sufficient to support a finding that the item is what the proponent claims; the proponent need not eliminate every theoretical possibility of fabrication.
- Authentication may rest on witness testimony and distinctive characteristics in context (Rule 901(b)(1), (b)(4)), including admissions of account ownership, in-court identifications, matching personal details, and corroboration from seized devices.
- Statements offered for their truth are hearsay under Rules 801–802 unless an exception applies; erroneous admission warrants reversal only if it affected the verdict (harmless-error analysis).

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit ruled that Facebook chat content is not self-authenticating as a business record under Rules 803(6) and 902(11), but may be admitted when authenticated through Rule 901 evidence linking the parties to the communications; admission of a third-party hearsay chat was error but harmless.


United States v. Browne, 834 F.3d 403 (3d Cir. 2016)