2023-04-17 15:00:00
Children’s photo sessions, funny videos and their own pages on social networks – many modern parents have long been not limited to family photo albums, but are trying to make Internet stars out of their offspring. At the same time, few of them think about the very real dangers, risks and unforeseen consequences of such self-promotion.
1300 photos in 13 years
“Essentially, it all comes down to the desire of parents to gain public approval through mechanisms such as “likes” or hearts,” says Sophie Pohle, media education consultant at Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk ( DKHW).
So, on the Internet you can see photos from ultrasound, and photos of children on the beach, their birthdays or the celebration of the first day of school. “To put it simply, all spheres of life are demonstrated,” Pole laments. Some parents literally use their offspring for advertising purposes – to promote cosmetic or children’s products, while ignoring the inviolable right of every person to his image.
So, Anne Longfield, who worked as Commissioner for Children in England from 2015 to 2021, notes that by the time a child reaches 13 years old, up to 1,300 images are collected on the Internet for each of them on average. This phenomenon even has its own name – “sharing”, made up of the English words “to share” (to share) and “parents” (parents). You can translate “sharenting” as “blogging parents”.
Publications on the web with consequences
As you know, nothing can be deleted from the Internet, and this emphasizes the essence of the problem. For example, “what parents find cute and funny, children themselves may regard as extremely unpleasant and humiliating,” explains Pole. “And if such a picture gets into the public space of the Internet, it can easily become a cause of harassment or offensive comments.”
Moreover, such ridiculous photographs can even cost a person a career later. If employees of the personnel department “when checking the applicant on the Internet find such pictures, then this is unlikely to help in finding a job.”
A serious danger is the fact that photographs often show not only the face of the child, but also his personal space: the situation in the room, house or apartment. From the accompanying textual descriptions, it is not difficult to obtain additional information, up to the name and date of birth. “Sometimes this is enough to understand where the child lives,” warns Sophie Field. And here, not only the fact of disclosure of personal data is terrible, but also “the risk that information and photographs will fall into the wrong hands and become available to pedophiles.”
According to the online portal jugendschutz.netwhich was created by the German government, states that “in the social network Instagram, cases of abuse by people who show a sexual interest in children have been recorded. For example, children’s photos are collected, provided with comments or hashtags with sexual overtones and sent between participants.”
According to Sophie Pole, “while parents are already aware of the potential danger of public posts on sites such as Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, messengers like WhatsApp are still perceived as more closed and protected for file transfers.”
However, if you publish photos in the status of such a messenger, then all the contacts of the subscriber will have access to them. “The responsibility of the parents themselves plays a decisive role here. How are my privacy settings set? Am I sure that I only share photos with my followers?” Pole says.
After all, even in a private chat, you cannot be absolutely sure that your interlocutor will not use the photographs at his own discretion.
Some parents use emoji, which are placed on top of children’s faces in the photo. This solution is not safe, because the image can be restored.
If the photograph needs to be published for some reason, then experts advise taking pictures of children from the back or at least hiding the face with a pixel mosaic.
The innovation of the French legislators
Today, practice suggests that the decision to publish photographs of young children under the age of 14 is made by their parents or legal representatives. However, Article 16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child determines that no child may be the object of arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her right to privacy, family life, home or correspondence, or unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation. According to the UN Convention, children are considered to be persons under 18 years of age.
France wants to be a pioneer in stopping the uncontrolled distribution of children’s images that pose a risk and degrading dignity. The Senate received a legislative initiative approved by the National Assembly, according to which Parents will be prohibited from sharing photos of their children on social media without their permission. The novelty of the bill lies in fixing a new legal concept – “the private life of a child.”
So, in case of disagreement between parents, a court decision can be made to prohibit one of them from publishing photographs of a common child without the permission of the other. In exceptional cases, it is even possible for parents to lose the right to dispose of the images of their children.
The new bill pays special attention to “the use of children’s photographs on online platforms.” Income from the commercial use of children’s photographs must be transferred to a special bank account, which children, upon reaching the age of 16, will be able to independently dispose of. In addition, the document enshrines the “right to be forgotten”, under which minors can optionally remove their photos and videos from the network.
Sophie Polet positively assesses the French bill: “The idea is not to ban the posting of children’s photographs as such, but to prevent their excessive and misuse in social networks. The right to own image means that everyone has the right to decide which photo or video materials may or may not may be published. In order to respect the rights of the child, it is essential to involve the children themselves in the decision-making process and to accept their disagreement with the publication.”
How to protect a child?
In most countries today, the best way to protect children from the undesirable consequences of “parent blogging” is education. Clarifications and legal support should be publicly available in kindergartens, schools, in the same social networks, but also, most importantly, among the parents themselves.
In addition, do not forget that the Internet was created by adults for adults, and a priori is not a safe environment for kids.
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