In an effort to “show off” their beloved child, many parents are happy to post their children’s photos on social networks. There is even a name for this trend – “sharing”.
Type in the word “child” or MumTok in the search box, and you will see a lot of images that loving parents post online. French parliamentarians decided to put an end to this.
The French National Assembly is actively discussing a bill to ban sharing*. One of its provisions states that parents must be responsible for respecting the right to privacy of their child, who, due to his age, cannot consent to uploading his photos to the Internet. What’s more, in extreme cases, a family court can revoke a parent’s right to share images of their child. Of course, provided that such an action will be recognized as excessive or harmful.
It is important for all parents or relatives of minor children to remember that once you share content online, it will be very difficult to remove it. Numerous studies show that before a child reaches the age of 13, his photos and videos are posted on the network an average of 1300 (!) Times. That is, it happens before he can legally create his own Facebook or Instagram profile.
Bill, notes Euronews is a world first and is widely acclaimed by child psychologists and social media experts. Anja Stewicz, communications researcher at the University of Vienna, warns:
“Parents need to be aware of the risks, the potential risks that can arise if others use photos or videos of their children. And of course, the risks are mostly related to ethics or theft of images for some really bad purpose on the internet.”
French politician Bruno Studer, one of the sponsors of the bill, stresses that 50% of photos innocently posted on social media end up in forums about child sexual abuse. Is it so?
This assessment is based on a study conducted by the Australian Child Protection Commissioner back in 2015. This work is already 8 years old, but according to the French association Cofrade, there are more recent findings:
“Europol and Interpol warned back in 2020 about the spread of pedophilia on the Internet and the predominance of content created by young people themselves or their environment.”
Knowing these risks, is it safe to share pictures of your child online? Here is what Anya Stevich says:
“I think there’s a safe way when it’s set to private messages, sharing with family, sharing with friends. I’ve seen parents practice posting pictures of their kids from the back, or posting pictures of multiple kids together without being seen. the whole face or body of a child. I think the problem is that when the photos are too public, they really become available to everyone and, of course, to online aggressors.”
Unfortunately, the bill will not prevent child sexual abuse websites from collecting content posted online. However, French MPs want to remind parents that they must respect their child’s digital privacy.
*Sharing, translated as sharing, is the practice of parents posting sensitive content about their children on internet platforms. Although the term was coined as recently as 2010, sharing has become an international phenomenon and is widely used in the US, Spain, France and the UK.
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