The birth of a baby, its first smile, its first steps excites parents, who photograph these early milestones of their child and share them with satisfaction with their acquaintances. Today, however, children’s photos are increasingly published online. And this can have unforeseen consequences.

1,300 photos before the 13th birthday

“Very often parents seek attention, for example through likes or reactions to posts,” explains Sophie Pohle, head of media education at the German Children’s Service in Berlin. Sometimes photos from the ultrasound are also published, but also photos from the beach, children’s birthdays or school holidays. Other times, even infants participate with their parents’ approval in advertisements or influencers use them to promote cosmetics or baby clothes. However, each person has a right to their own photos. And children are no exception.

England’s former child protection commissioner, Ann Longfield, warned in a 2018 report that on average around 1,300 photos of each child are already online before they turn 13. The phenomenon even has a special name: “sharenting”, which is made up of the English words “share” and “parents”.

Photo posts have consequences

But on the internet, everything stays and this can often be a problem, as, for example, if the children themselves are not happy that their photos have been published. “What parents would describe as cute and sweet, kids sometimes find incredibly annoying,” Pole explains. “And if the photos are released publicly, the child can naturally become the target of bullying, insults or hateful comments” or face difficulties later in their work environment.

In addition, the photos often show not only the child’s face, but also his personal environment: the children’s room, the house, the garden. Photo captions include even more information, such as the child’s name or date of birth. “Sometimes this data can also be used to find the child’s whereabouts,” Pole warns. This is not only a problem for data protection reasons: “Of course, there is always the risk of such information and images falling into the wrong hands and circulating in pedophile circles, for example.” Already in 2019, the online portal jugendschutz.net, which was launched jointly by the German federal and state governments, pointed out in a report that “Instagram is being misused for networking by people with a sexual interest in children. For example, photos of children are collected, tagged with sexual comments or hashtags and shared.”

“Parents know that posting publicly on Facebook, TikTok or Instagram is problematic,” explains Sophie Pole. “And on platforms they consider more private, like WhatsApp, they share photos even more freely.” But even in a private conversation, one cannot be sure that a photo will not be forwarded after each interlocutor to the wrong person.

France: Sharenting banned by law

In order to curb this phenomenon, France is now taking a unique approach: it wants to ban parents from sharing photos of their children on social media without their permission. In extreme cases, parents may even lose the right to dispose of their children’s photo rights. The new draft law also pays special attention to the “exploitation of children’s photos on online platforms”. Thus, the income from commercially exploited children’s photos must be paid into an account that the children themselves can access from the age of 16. In addition, an enforceable “right to be forgotten” is enshrined, whereby children can remove photos and videos of themselves from the internet later if they wish.

Sophie Polet positively evaluates the French draft law, as it strengthens the rights of minors already enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. “It’s not about banning pictures of children online in general, it’s about stopping excessive and indecent use of them on social media,” Pole says. “It is absolutely essential that the children themselves participate in the decision to publish their photos, as well as that their possible refusal is respected.”

In other parts of the world, there is not yet such a legislative scheme as in France. Therefore, Pole says, education is the most important means of protecting children from the unwanted consequences of Sharenting. In nurseries, in schools, on social networking platforms, but above all among parents themselves. First of all, families need to “develop a shared understanding of how to treat their photos responsibly,” Pole says. “By the time they get their own smartphone, kids are the same on social media, and of course they’re strongly influenced by how their family treated them in the past.”