Photos of children on social media: when is parental consent required and can the photo be requested to be deleted?

Children’s photos appear daily on the pages of schools, kindergartens, sports clubs, event organizers, and social media. However, Ukrainian legislation distinguishes between photographing a child and further publishing their image. In some cases, parents may demand that the photo be removed, and for violation of the law, even administrative or criminal liability may arise.

Photographing a child and publishing a photo are not the same thing

The human right to privacy is guaranteed by Article 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine, and the rules for photographing and using an image are established by Articles 307–308 of the Civil Code.

As a general rule, a person can be photographed only with their consent. At the same time, such consent is assumed if the shooting takes place openly on the street, at a conference, rally, or other public event.

But this does not mean automatic permission for further unlimited use of the photo. In particular, the ability to openly photograph a child at a concert or sporting event does not in itself give the right to use their portrait in advertising or promotional materials.

Who gives consent for a child

Personal non-property rights belong to a person from birth. If a minor or underage child cannot exercise such rights independently due to age, this is done by his parents, adoptive parents, guardians or trustees.

At the same time, the mother and father have equal rights over the child, and the exercise of parental rights should not contradict his interests.

Is written consent from both parents required

The legislation does not establish a universal requirement to obtain written permission from both parents before each publication of a child’s photograph.

Similarly, Articles 307–308 of the Civil Code do not provide that consent to photographing or using an image under any circumstances must be exclusively in writing.

However, if a school, company, event organizer, or other person knows for sure that one parent objects to the publication, continuing to use the photo, citing only the consent of the other parent, is legally risky.

For schools, kindergartens, clubs, and businesses, the safest option is to obtain clear consent in advance, indicating where and for what purpose the child’s image will be used.

The child’s own opinion should also be taken into account

Even parental consent does not mean that the child’s wishes can be completely ignored.

This is especially true for teenagers. Publishing a humiliating, compromising, or clearly undesirable photo for a child can violate their rights even if one of the parents does not object.

A child’s photo can be personal data

If a specific child can be identified from the photo, such a photo can be considered their personal data.

Accordingly, publishing a photo can be a form of processing personal data. In this case, the data must be used for specific and legitimate purposes.

Therefore, a situation where parents allowed the school to take photos for an internal event, and later the photo ended up in an advertising campaign without proper legal grounds, may require a separate legal assessment.

When the publication is particularly risky

The Law of Ukraine “On the Protection of Childhood” establishes separate protection. It prohibits disclosing or publishing information about a child without the consent of a legal representative if it may cause harm to him.

You should be especially careful with publications that allow you to establish:

the child’s place of residence or regular stay;
information about his health;
information about experienced violence;
private family circumstances.
Can parents demand the removal of a photo

Yes. If there is no proper legal basis for distributing the image or its use violates the child’s personal non-property rights, you can demand the cessation of such use and the removal of the photo.

First of all, you should record the publication: take screenshots, save the link, date, page name, and text accompanying the photo.

After that, you can contact the author of the publication, the administration of the school, kindergarten, section, company or other page owner with a request to remove the image.

If there are grounds, you can also contact the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights or the court.

What liability is provided for

The legislation does not establish a separate universal liability for the formula “published a photo of a child without the permission of the parents”. The consequences depend on the specific situation, the purpose of the publication, the nature of the information and the damage caused.

Civil law protection is possible, in particular the requirement to delete the photo and, if there are grounds, to compensate for property or moral damage. In the field of personal data, certain violations may result in administrative liability.

In more serious cases, the question of Article 182 of the Criminal Code – violation of privacy – may arise. But not every publication of a photo without permission is automatically a criminal offense: it is necessary to establish all the signs provided for by law.

A separate risk is using a child’s photo for AI content

A regular photo of a child can become the subject of