The term “sharenting” is a portmanteau of “sharing” and “parenting” and refers to the increasingly widespread practice among parents of sharing photos, videos, and information about their children online, especially on social media.
In Italy, several court rulings have already recognized the right of children and/or the other parent to request the removal of content published without their prior consent, such as the ruling issued by the Court of Mantua in case no. 2881/17 of R.G., which convicted a mother for publishing photos of her children without the father’s authorization, establishing the following principle of law:
“The posting of photos of minor children on social networks against the will of one of the parents constitutes a violation of the provision of Article 10 of the Italian Civil Code (concerning the protection of image), of the combined provisions of Articles 4, 7, 8, and 145 of Legislative Decree No. 196 of June 30, 2003 (concerning the protection of personal data) and Articles 1 and 16 I of the New York Convention of November 20, 1989, ratified by Italy with Law No. 176 of May 27, 1991, so that the publication of such images must be prohibited and those already posted must be removed.”
A very recent turning point on this issue comes from a ruling handed down in June 2025 by the Court of Milan, which, called upon to decide in a dispute between two parents who accused each other of publishing photos and videos of their minor children on Facebook without the other’s consent, introduced an innovative legal principle: parents are the ‘custodians’ of their children’s images and are also criminally liable if such content is shared on social media, even inadvertently.
The aforementioned ruling therefore established the following principles:
- parents are considered the ‘legal guardians of the digital image’ of their children;
- any publication, even accidental, may entail civil and criminal liability for parents;
- each parent has a duty of digital vigilance and prudence;
- parental love does not justify the unnecessary public exposure of images relating to their children.
In addition to expressly referring to the possibility of committing the crime of unlawful data processing, the ruling refers to a general legal duty incumbent on those exercising parental authority: to protect the decency, dignity, and safety of their children.
The phenomenon of sharenting is not regulated by a single source of law, but by a combination of civil, criminal, and supranational rules; this regulation may be fragmented but is, at the same time, synergistic and aims to balance the right of parents to share their experiences with the fundamental right of children to grow up free from a prematurely imposed digital identity.
Firstly, the Civil Code protects the right to image and privacy of minors through Article 10, on the abuse of another person’s image, and Articles 316 et seq., which regulate parental responsibility, requiring parents to act in the exclusive interest of their children.
In criminal law, Articles 595 of the Criminal Code, on defamation, and 615-bis of the Criminal Code, on unlawful interference in private life, may apply in cases where publication damages the dignity or privacy of a minor.
European legislation on the protection of personal data is also fundamental: Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) establishes that the processing of children’s data requires special attention, especially online, and that, in Italy, digital consent is only valid from the age of 14 onwards.
Finally, the protection of minors’ image is also strengthened by Articles 96 and 97 of the Copyright Law (Law 633/1941), which prohibit the publication of images without the consent of the person concerned or, in the case of minors, of those with parental responsibility, provided that this is in the best interests of the minor.
This regulatory framework aims to protect the digital identity of minors, preventing overexposure that could compromise their freedom, dignity, and personality development.
A study by the European Pediatrics Association, published in the Journal of Pediatrics and coordinated by Prof. Pietro Ferrara (Referent for Maltreatment and Abuse and Liaison with the Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents of the Italian Society of Pediatrics – SIP), aimed at highlighting the risks related to privacy, digital security, and the protection of children’s images, revealed the following data:
- European parents share an average of 300 photos of their children per year;
- a child is the subject of around 1,000 posts before the age of 5;
Following the emergence of such worrying data, the SIP, as well as the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL, the French data protection authority), have drawn up a handbook to educate families about the risks associated with this practice.
In a nutshell, parents are offered the following advice:
- avoid sharing images, videos, and any other content featuring their children on social networks, as these should always remain private in order to avoid the risk of them being misused by others;
- prefer sharing via private and secure instant messaging, including email or MMS, sending such content only to family members or close friends;
- in any case, always ask for your child’s consent (bearing in mind that, as mentioned above, in Italy digital consent is only valid from the age of 14) as well as that of the other parent before disseminating any content concerning your children, particularly on social networks, as this is not an ordinary act and requires the consent of both parents;
- If you decide to publish, be selective and avoid certain content that involves your children’s privacy (such as photos in swimsuits, in the bathtub or even naked), so be selective.
- if you decide to share on social networks, always hide your child’s face, so take photos from behind or cover their face with an emoticon;
- familiarize yourself with the privacy policy of the sites on which you share content, then select the recipients of your content, limiting the visibility of your posts to your subscribers or even just some of them, preventing strangers from accessing them in any way;
- Do not hesitate to ask friends and family not to share photos or videos of your children on social networks without your permission.
- activate notifications that alert parents when their children’s names appear in search engines.
In this context, it is necessary to reflect consciously on the use of digital tools within the family, so that the exercise of parental responsibility is always geared towards protecting the best interests of the child, including in the digital sphere.
In light of the regulatory and case law framework examined, it is clear that parents who publish content relating to their minor children without their consent (for children aged 14 and over) or that of the other parent, or in violation of the applicable rules, may incur civil penalties, such as the removal of the content and compensation for damages, or criminal penalties, such as imprisonment for up to four years for unlawful data processing, defamation, or interference in private life.
