Influencer ordered to remove photos of her children from social networks

On October 1, 2018, the District Court of The Hague ordered an influencer to permanently remove all content from her social networks in which photos of her children appeared aged two and four years. It also prohibited her from uploading any such content again in the future, and imposed a fine of €500 for every day that she does not comply with the order up to a maximum of €25,000.

The children’s father brought the lawsuit against the mother on the grounds that the use of the image of their children on those social networks violated their right to privacy and could be seriously damaging for the children.

The District Court of the Hague ruled that the decision to publish or share images or videos of minors on social networks was a matter that should be determined by the parents jointly but, given the disagreement between the two in the specific case, the best thing for the interests of the children was to remove such content as it represents a threat to their right to privacy (particularly considering that due to their young age they could not appreciate the possible consequences of appearing on those social networks).

However, the court did allow the mother to continue publishing content of her children in private social network accounts with no more than 250 followers.

Similar cases have been analyzed in Spanish case law. A good example is the judgment of section 12 of the Provincial Court of Appeals of Barcelona No. 385/2018 of May 15, which we already analyzed in this blog. This case concluded that when a parent wishes to upload a photo of their minor children on social networks, it is necessary to obtain the consent of the other parent. If one of the parents unilaterally uploads an image of the minor and this could damage their honor or reputation, the other parent is entitled to bring legal action, as recently happened in the Netherlands.