Why It’s Not a Good Idea to Share Photos of Your Kids Online

Like you, I’ve probably always struggled to find the time to keep up with all my friends. So when I discovered social media and joined Facebook in 2007, I was thrilled that I had found a way to keep up with everyone. I loved seeing pictures of my friends’ babies and children. I must admit, it was joyful! But fast-forward to 2024 and the “mentality” around online sharing, also known as “sharenting,” has completely changed. Sharing photos of our children is no longer considered a safe and joyful activity. In fact, most experts now believe that sharing photos of our children online can actually put them at risk.

Mark Zuckerberg never shares photos of his children online

Despite the plethora of ‘mumfluencers’ and parenting content creators on your social media feeds normalizing ‘sharenting’, some of the biggest players in the tech space are taking a very different approach. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg never shares photos of his daughters. In 2023, he did share a cute family photo but used emojis to cover the faces of his two eldest daughters. Despite not having children of his own, Apple CEO Tim Cooke has also spoken publicly about strongly encouraging his nephew to stay off social media. And this approach is shared by many big names in Hollywood, with celebrities like Kristen Bell, Gigi Hadid and Orlando Bloom also use blurry photos or emojis to protect their children’s privacy on social media.

I’m not suggesting we take all of our parenting tips from tech giants and celebrities, but it does highlight a trend among high-profile individuals that I think is worth noting. Could Zuckerberg’s use of emojis be a message that it is, in fact, the responsibility of the end user to protect themselves online? Or is it a result of first-hand knowledge of what happens when photos of children fall into the wrong hands?

What are the risks of ‘Sharenting’ – apart from embarrassment?

While your teen may cite embarrassment as the number one reason parents don’t share photos online, the potential risks of “sharenting” go far beyond simply avoiding the cringe. Here are the main ones to consider:

When you share photos, you lose control over them

Once you upload a photo online, you are essentially giving up ownership of it. There is nothing stopping someone from copying, altering, editing, or sharing a photo that you post online. You may also be surprised to know that when you share a photo on social media, you are agreeing to the site’s terms and conditions – even if you haven’t read them! These terms often include a licensing agreement, meaning that once you post an image to a social media platform like Facebook, you are granting Facebook ownership of the content through a licensing agreement. In short, you lose control over who your child sees and what they do with the image.

When you share photos, you risk identity theft

Cybercriminals are very adept at putting together different ‘puzzle pieces’ to steal an identity. If a parent regularly shares happy snapshots of important childhood events, it wouldn’t take a cybercriminal long to figure out a child’s full name, date of birth, hometown or even school just from the images, captions and comments.

And once they have the image and personal information, it takes little time for a skilled scammer to create fake profiles and an online identity. Once the fake identity is created, applying for credit and setting up accounts becomes a breeze. According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, identity theft of children under the age of 19 is a growing trend. In the first half of 2024, it will account for 3% of all identity theft cases — up from 2% last year.

When you share photos, you risk sexual exploitation and deepfakes

Unfortunately, there are some perverted individuals in this world who make it their life’s work to steal images of minors for sexual exploitation. Images are often edited and manipulated and then shared or sold on child exploitation websites. The sophistication of artificial intelligence software now means that images can easily be manipulated and even animated. This is known as deepfake technology and it is a huge problem. In fact, the Australian eSafety Commissioner estimates that 90% of deepfakes are explicit. It would be devastating if your image was manipulated and used as a pornographic deepfake. The impact on their mental health would be profound and it could also have lasting negative effects on someone’s personal and professional life.

Are there any solutions? Can you give me a plan B?

In an ideal world, we would all follow the example of Mark Zuckerberg and Hollywood celebrities and not post any photos of our children online. Remember, if there are no photos or personal details of your child online, the problem goes away. But if you feel like you can’t break the habit, then I highly recommend that you do the following from now on:

Think before you share

Before you upload, take a moment to ask yourself if the photo really needs to be shared on social media. Maybe you can share it in a group chat with close family and friends? Think of it as a numbers game: the less you share, the less likely it is to end up in the wrong hands.

Check your privacy settings – and those of your friends!

Every social media platform has an option to share images with your friends only. Set this. Some also give you the option to limit what can be shared from your posts – take that too. And while you’re at it, maybe take another look at your friends list. If you don’t even remember who someone is or have had limited contact, it might be time to delete!

Minimize personal or identifying information in any photo you share

Always scan your photos to make sure there are no identifying details on them. Your child’s name, school details, and date of birth are all gold nuggets for a cybercriminal trying to steal an identity. Always disable geotagging, as this will also remove any potential location data from an image. But remember that all digital photos contain metadata, including the location of the photo. This can be disabled, but if that’s too complicated, simply use a screenshot of an image instead of the original image and problem solved!

Consider watermarking photos

Adding a digital watermark to your photos makes it much harder for deepfake creators to use your images. It becomes a more complicated process that is potentially traceable. There are several free apps that can easily help you add a watermark, including my personal favorite Canva.

If you are reading this and feeling incredibly guilty about everything you have shared so far, please stop right now. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Parenting is a journey and we are all learning and evolving as new information comes to light.

So, don’t panic. Instead, why not commit to rethinking your approach going forward? And if you have an hour or two to spare, go back through your social media posts and delete anything you’re not sure about. And make sure all your settings are private!

You can do it!