How Son Dragged Mum to Court Over Her Social Media Habits

An Italian mother (not real photo) has been banned by the court from posting images of her teenage son on social media, and threatened with a 10,000 euro fine if she defies it.

This judgement comes after a court in Rome ruled in the boy’s favor. The 16-year-old had made a court complaint about his mother’s social media habits, which included posting pictures of him on Facebook without his consent.

The teenager whose parents were getting a divorce, had grown tired of his mother’s oversharing online and the issue was brought up during divorce proceedings, Euronews reports.

It was also learnt that the teenager was featured by his mother in some photos on social media and judges ruled that the boy could lawfully request the removal of all his photos posted by his mother from the social media site.

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Under Italian law, the subject of the photo owns the copyright, rather than the person who took the picture, as is the case in the UK.

As a result, they made an order in December for the mother to remove photos and videos of the boy or face a fine. She will also have to pay her son if she posts new images of him online.

The website quoted lawyer Giuseppe Croari as saying that the unnamed mother had also effectively violated Facebook’s terms and conditions by posting images to which she did not have the copyright.

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Facebook’s Terms of Service states that users agree to ‘not post content or take any action on Facebook that infringes or violates someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the law.’

Privacy and copyright laws vary from nation to nation. In France, anyone convicted of publishing and distributing images of another person without their consent can face a fine of 45,000 euros (£40,000) and up to a year in prison.

In 2016, French police urged parents to avoid posting photos of their children on social media. They said the images could infringe on their privacy and security.

Photo Credit: LDS.org.