Trevor Cooke, the online privacy expert at EarthWeb, discusses four compelling reasons why it’s potentially hazardous to post pictures of your children online.

Safeguarding Your Child: Why You Should Think Twice Before Sharing Your Kiddie Snaps

Everyone absolutely loves to share photos of everything they’re up to on social media, and parents are no exception. Proud parents may be excited to display photos of their children and share the joy their little ones bring. However, this so-called ‘sharenting’ doesn’t come without its risks.

The Four Major Dangers Of Posting Your Kids’ Photos Online

You Lose Control

When you post a photo on social media, you grant the platform a licence to that picture. They use this licence to host your photo and make sure it displays correctly - but that same licence also allows them to use the picture how they like, including sharing it and selling it to others (e.g. advertisers).

Even with strict privacy settings, these images could be stolen, copied, altered, or spread forever across the Internet, meaning you completely lose control of who sees your child and what they do with their image.

Identities Can Be Kidnapped

A parent might post a new baby photo, write comments, and share their location on social media - all things some of us do without even thinking. But all this information tells a cybercriminal your child’s name, date of birth, and place of birth, which can ultimately lead to identity theft, sometimes called "digital kidnapping".

Trevor says, ‘Criminals can use your child's image and shared details to create fake profiles and fabricate an online identity. They can then set up unauthorised accounts, apply for credit, and conduct other activities under their name.’ Scammers have even taken out loans in the name of children under the age of five - ruining their credit before they’re even old enough to use money!

Children Can Be Sexually Exploited

Posting photos of your child, especially in swimwear, could make them targets for sexual predators who scour the Internet for images of minors. These predators may manipulate, share, or sell the images on dark websites dedicated to child exploitation. The rise of AI image and video manipulation means they could even animate these images - not something any of us want to think about.

This exposure violates your child's privacy and risks their safety and mental health, as these images can circulate indefinitely in harmful contexts. They could haunt your child into adulthood, negatively affecting their personal and professional life.

It Breeds Fear

No parent wants a criminal to use the Internet to find out where their child lives and goes to school. Neither do they want strangers featuring their baby photos in ‘baby role-play’ - a concerning new development on Instagram. Trevor says, ‘If you don’t post the pictures, there’s no need to worry. Keeping your pictures private will provide you with an invaluable gift: peace of mind.’

Others argue that children themselves are the only ones with the right to decide what happens to their own image, and their parents posting pictures of them violates that right. Trevor says, ‘If you always put their interests at the forefront, you’ll never regret it.’

Sharenting - Good or Bad?