What does “read” or “seen” mean?¶

A message may be marked as read, seen or opened.

Evidential caution: that this proves the intended person personally read and understood the content.

What this means¶

A read or seen status is usually generated when the service detects an interaction that meets its rules. That may be opening the conversation, displaying the message on screen or synchronising a read event from another linked device.

The absence of a read receipt is equally limited. Read receipts may be disabled, delayed, suppressed by privacy settings or generated only when particular conditions are met. A message may have been seen in a notification preview without creating a read event.

Then look for corroboration. A reply addressing the content, an action taken soon afterwards, a later reference to the message or other conduct may support awareness. Even then, consider who controlled the account or device.

Report the evidence at the level it supports. “The service recorded the message as seen” is more defensible than “The recipient read it.”

What to check or do next¶

• Preserve the exact wording or symbol, the service, the associated time and whether linked devices were active. If the distinction matters, establish what the service meant by that event at the relevant time.

Evidential limits¶

The event may not relate to the account holder personally. A shared phone, unlocked device, desktop session, delegate or intruder may have caused it.

Some applications mark several messages as read when a conversation is opened, even if the user does not focus on each one. A person may glance at the screen without understanding the content. A notification interaction may also affect status on some services.