Social Media, Privacy & Children
Something that gets lost in the social media privacy debate is children and the impact on them. The earlier children take their first steps in the digital world the earlier they increase their online presence and leave a digital footprint.
Parents are starting this presence even before their children are born posting ultrasounds of their unborn children on their social media platforms. This continues literally when they are born with the first photo from the delivery room and continues in their early months and years as they grow.
Parents have traditionally always taken photos of their children and shared them with a small group of family and friends and of course on the 21st birthday. These days the trend of parents posting information on social media about their children is shared with a far larger audience. Sometimes it seems that parents don’t think before they post and they believe there are no harmful consequences.
Firstly, once something is posted on social media that information permanently resides online even if the parent removes or deletes the information. It can be guaranteed that this information has already been shared and is part of the online world.
Secondly, the information that is already out there which includes date of birth, intimate moments, and so on is being mined, collected and sold to marketing companies ready for when the child commences using social media themselves and when they become consumers. How will this information affect the child?
Thirdly, posting information about your child’s life is more importantly a privacy issue. Children have the right to privacy and having their information protected. However, how do they have a voice when they are too young to voice an opinion? They are not giving consent to having information about them shared but must deal with the ramifications.
The law has been slow to move with this issue and discussion still lacks behind in it actually being an issue. Some argue that this information is harmless and perhaps it is but we don’t know. As the United Nations states in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth”.
Bearing this in mind, what is certain is that this is an issue which needs much more attention and discussion. As social media becomes more extensively part of our lives, we must place children first.
This blog post is a shorter version of what appeared in LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago. Click here for the longer version.
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