Your Facebook timeline is probably overflowing with cute pictures your friends post of their kids, and you probably do it too. After all, it’s what parents do, right? And, we can probably all agree that there are limits as to what kind of pictures are appropriate to share publicly, and that it’s important to stay on top of your privacy settings, but in one country, that may not be enough. If you’re reading this on American soil, you can breathe a sigh of relief, but for moms in France strict privacy laws may cause them to think twice about posting photos of their children on Facebook at all. The new laws will make it illegal for anyone to post pictures of someone else without their permission, this includes parents posting pictures of their children.
Apparently, it is now within a child’s right to sue their parents for any published pictures they are uncomfortable with, or that they feel is an infringement on their rights.
The Daily Mail reports that parents in France can actually face fines of up to $48,000 and one year in prison for posting pictures of their children online.
“In a few years, children could easily take their parents to court for publishing photos of them when they were younger,” Eric Delcroix, who specializes in internet law and ethics, told Le Figaro newspaper.
“Children at certain stages do not wish to be photographed, or for those photos to be made public.”
According to The Local, the French armed forces even shared a warning message on their own Facebook page, encouraging parents to be mindful. It states “remember that posting pictures of your children on Facebook is not safe. It is important to protect the privacy of minors and their images on social networking sites.”
I think we can all agree with this sentiment, that it’s important to guard your child and family’s privacy on social media, but should it be up to the government to control what you can and can’t post of your children? And, should children have the right to sue parents in the future if they’re unhappy with that photo you posted of them at their 8th grade graduation?
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