Court Bans Mother from Sharing Pictures of her Children on Instagram

The father of three underaged children requested an injunction to stop their mother from publishing, and to delete, pictures and videos of their children from her Instagram account, where the defendant has approximately 500,000 followers.

V.F., the father, argued that the defendant posted the images without his prior consent and aiming to obtain a profit from the publications. In addition, V.F. argued that neither of his three daughters were old enough to have their own Instagram account or to understand the context in which their images were being used.

On the other hand, S.B., the mother, contended that, although her Instagram account had gained grate popularity, the purpose of the account was and will continue to be to share her daily routine, of which her daughters are a part. S.B. also argued that, due to the popularity of her account, she started to receive presents from different brands for her and her three daughters.

The mother further argued that V.F. also publishes pictures of their daughters on his social media accounts and that the images that she posted on her Instagram account do not have any purpose other than to reflect the existing relationship between the three children and their mother.

The Court established that the role of parents is to raise and educate their children as their representatives and not without affecting their free will and respecting the rights and guarantees to which children are entitled. The Court also added that it is the parents who are in charge of guiding their children in the exercise of their own rights. Therefore, the Court must play a preventive and guiding role over the parents with respect to their children.

The Court added that in circumstances such as those of the case in question, the right to be heard and the best interest of the child play a fundamental role. In this case, the three children expressed their discomfort in having their image disseminated on their mother's social media account.

Lastly, the Court stated that the right to privacy, to control one’s image, to honor and to create a digital identity belongs to each child and adolescent and that they have the freedom to dispose of such rights with progressive autonomy.

The Court thus partially admitted the injunction and ordered S.B. to refrain from publishing the pictures and videos of the children on her Instagram account and from making references to the court proceedings involving V.F.

(“V.F. c/ S.B. s/Medidas Precautorias,” Family Court No. 1 of Tigre, September 20, 2021)