Court Steps In After Grandma Posted Photos Of Kids On Facebook Without Mom's Consent

The question of who can share photos of your children on social and who can't is an important one. And let's be honest, it can get a little touchy if someone, especially if they're family, does so without your permission, which is what led a court in Holland to order one grandmother to delete Facebook photos of her grandkids following a dispute with her daughter.

The daughter had reportedly asked the grandmother to remove photos of her grandchildren on Facebook and Pinterest on several occasions after the grandmother had posted them without the mom's permission, according to CNN. And, apparently, the grandmother didn't respond to her daughter's concerns, which sadly meant the whole thing ended up in court.

The judge ultimately ruled that the grandmother must remove the photos under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation in the European Union, as the BBC reported. The GDPR states that the mother has legal authority over the public use of images of her underage children. The ruling went on to point out that, by posting images on Facebook, the grandmother had made the images available to a wider audience. "On Facebook, it cannot be ruled out that placed photos could be distributed and that they may come into the hands of third parties," the ruling said.

This grandmother has now been told she has 10 days to remove the photos, according to CNN. If she posts more pictures without her daughter's permission in the future, she will have to pay fines of approximately $55 per day until they're removed.

It's unfortunate that the mother and grandmother had to go to court in this case, but the reality is that parents are more concerned than ever about protecting their child's privacy online. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule in the United States restricts websites and other online publications from sharing images and information of children under the age of 13 without parental consent.

But what about social media posts from family members? This can be a tricky situation for parents, particularly if they want to keep some sort of peace in their family and avoid going to court over the issue.

The best thing to do, as technology lawyer Neil Brown explained to the BBC, is to use common sense. "Irrespective of the legal position, would it be reasonable for the people who've posted those photos to think, 'Well, he or she doesn't want them out there anymore'? Actually, the reasonable thing — the human thing to do — is to go and take them down," Brown told the news outlet.

Or simply to ask permission before posting photos. The internet is vast, and at the end of the day, parents need to know they have some control over their children's privacy online.