Are we exposing our children a little too much on social networks?
For the deputy of the Renaissance party, Bruno Studer, the answer is yes.
On January 19, the elected representative of Bas-Rhin and other members of the Renaissance group tabled a bill to “guarantee respect for the image rights of children” by further regulating their visibility on the Internet.
A concern that must be “in the 21st century and in the age of social networks, one of the great missions of parents”, he explained on January 27 on BFM TV.
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In his text, Bruno Studer indicates that on average a child "appears in 1,300 photographs published online before the age of 13, on his own accounts, those of his parents or relatives".
If this number varies according to the notoriety of the main interested parties, the phenomenon involves many risks, recalls the deputy.
First, that of the dissemination of these images in pedophile circles, then that of harming their mental health.
“The excessive exposure of children to the judgment of third parties on the internet, the race for
likes
and other appreciations can generate psychological problems, in particular in the acceptance of oneself and one's image.
Cyberbullying finds fertile ground there,” reads the bill, which will be examined in March.
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The "sharing"
The text also alerts to the phenomenon of “sharing”, the contraction of the two terms “sharing” (sharing) and “parenting” (parenting), which consists of parents publishing content relating to their children on their accounts.
The process was democratized during confinement with young influencer parents.
A trend constituting “one of the main risks of invasion of the privacy of minors”.
The text indicates in particular that, according to a report by the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
dating from 2020, “50% of the photographs exchanged on child pornography forums
(this year 2020, editor’s note)
had initially been published by parents on their social networks” .
“Certain images, in particular photographs of naked babies or young girls in gymnastic clothes, are of particular interest to pedophile circles”, we read further.
Besides that, the deputies of the presidential majority point to “the existence of humiliating or degrading practices filmed by the parents themselves”.
By way of example, that of the
cheese challenge
, consisting of throwing a slice of cheese to melt at a baby or a pet.
“Holders of parental authority and as such, of the right to the image of the child, the parents are both the protectors and the managers”, insists Bruno Studer.
The deputy also denounces the capitalization of certain parents on the image of their child(ren), due to "the advent of an economy of
In addition, four out of ten teenagers (1) believe that their parents expose them too much on the internet, details the text.
"Numerous concordant testimonies, collected in the field by associations, show the cognitive dissonance in which children are placed, who would often prefer not to be so valued by their parents".
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The bill, if accepted, will consist of “introducing the notion of private life into the definition of parental authority” and specifying that the exercise of this right must be exercised jointly by both parents.
The text continues work begun two years earlier with the 2020 law on “child influencers”.
This was already intended to fill the legal void surrounding "the commercial exploitation of the image of children under 16 on online platforms".
(1) According to a survey conducted by Microsoft in 2019.