Every child, like an adult, is subject to rights and responsibilities, and therefore entitled to legal protection on many levels. Parents, as their legal representatives, should therefore ensure their safety and ensure their rights are respected. In recent years, the phenomenon of sharenting has gained momentum.
What is sharenting?
This is a situation in which parents excessively share photographs of their children on social media without analyzing the risks involved. A child has the right to protection of their image and the right to privacy and intimacy, which constitute their personal rights under Article 23 of the Civil Code. Furthermore, disseminating a child's image is also protected under copyright law, which requires the consent of the person whose image it is. Until the child reaches the age of majority, parents, as legal representatives, can provide such consent on their behalf, as the child does not have full legal capacity at that time. According to the Family and Guardianship Code, parents are obligated to act for the child's benefit and well-being. It is important to always consider whether the publication of photos of the child's first bath or seemingly amusing photos will in the future prove to be a harmful, humiliating, and often impossible-to-remove digital trace that could harm the child's career path as an adult or create a potential victim of malicious memes. Such actions may therefore violate the child's right to intimacy, privacy and image protection.
Voluntary consent
It's also important to highlight the issue of institutions offering extracurricular activities for children and preschools that massively collect parental consent to disseminate children's images, thus determining the child's ability to participate in activities. It's important to emphasize that consent, which should be voluntary and informed, is then ineffective, so forcing it results in unauthorized publication of the image. Children also lack adequate understanding of the risks involved in such activities, so even their willingness to publish an image should be subject to prior parental review.
Risks associated with publishing an image of a child
Through careless posting, a hacker or outsider will have access to information about a child's location and hours, age, interests, and sometimes even be able to determine their PESEL number. This can lead to acts of cyberbullying, harassment, possible child kidnapping, identity theft, or the identification of a child's iris (i.e., biometric data). Careless online posting of content can lead to loss of control over its replication. Photos of children at the beach or bathing can end up on child pornography sites. There's also the phenomenon of "baby roleplay," which involves using a stolen image of a child in a seemingly neutral situation to create fantasies, including violent or sexual fantasies. Such photos are posted on social media, where the child is given a new identity. In 2015, the scale of this phenomenon was enormous, with over 55,000 photos tagged with a hashtag to facilitate searches. Using stolen images of children for fake fundraisers is also a common practice. Therefore, it's crucial to consciously and thoughtfully post photos of children online. Above all, ensure moderation and neutrality in the content published, and verify whether any other important information about the child should be disclosed. It's also crucial to share content with the narrowest possible circle of trusted recipients. It's also crucial to ask the child's consent.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of June 4, 2024
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