In this modern, digital era, (grand)parents often proudly share pictures of their children. However, that is not without risk. What can happen with ‘sharenting’?
Nowadays children have been online with pictures from an early age, this is the case with 80% of children under the age of two. It is logical that parents or grandparents are proud of their (grand)child and want to share this with the outside world. Sharing your (grand)child is also called ‘sharenting’.
Abuse of children’s photos
Posting photos of your child or grandchild may seem harmless, but it isn’t always. Anyone on the internet can store and misuse other people’s photos. This is of course not allowed without permission, but it happens quite often. In this way, a photo can suddenly fall into the wrong hands and end up in a certain circuit that you don’t want at all. Much of what the police collect in terms of ‘child pornography’ is actually pictures of the children of third parties.
But abuse can also be done in other ways. For example in advertisements and commercials. The photos and your entire account are scanned by companies and the information they get from them they then use for targeted advertisements and advertisements. This in itself does not seem very bad, but this also saves the photos and allows them to be used later. For example, you may suddenly come across photos of a (grand)child in a magazine or brochure. Without you ever giving permission!
Third, there is the risk of identity theft. People then misuse your (grand)child’s information and, for example, apply for benefits.
Remember: pictures on the internet are permanent!
Once you’ve put something on the internet, it’s very hard to get it off. Although you may have deleted a photo later, it can often be found via Google. Still, photos are often cached by systems and can come back later. With Facebook, for example, you can easily save photos of others for your own use. This may cause you to have the photo deleted, but others who may be offending can also save your photo locally and then re-upload and redistribute it.
Our advice? Sharing is possible, but shield your social media well so that only your own friends and acquaintances can see the photo. And don’t post a huge amount. A few great, striking photos often say more than 20 mediocre shots.
