How to Safely Post Photos of Your Baby Online

Social media and online networks make it easy for you to share images of your baby with friends and family members, but there is also danger involved. Photographs of your child can be stolen, repurposed by strangers, or even used to track...

Method 1 of 3:

Deciding Which Pictures to Post

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    Evaluate the circumstances of the photo. Certain types of photographs are safe to post. These include professional photoshoots, family pictures, photos of the baby smiling, or snapshots of the baby playing. Other photographs should never be posted online. These are photos that could potentially endanger the child or that could be shared for criminal purposes on the internet.
    1. Do not post pictures of your baby in the bath or on the toilet, nor should there be any naked pictures of your baby online.
    2. Do not post pictures of your baby engaging in any unsafe activities. Even if you were there to watch them, these photos may misinterpreted by others. For example, a picture of your baby dangling off an edge might be funny to you, but it may cause alarm from other people.[1]
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    Exclude photos with identifiable landmarks. If you are concerned about people seeing and locating your baby, you should make sure that any photos you post do not reveal where you live or where your baby attends daycare. Avoid photographs that may reveal this information.[2]
    1. Identifiable landmarks include street signs, local storefronts, or numbers on the front of your house.
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    Consider how your baby may feel about it in fifteen years. A photo that is cute now may cause embarrassment for your child down the road. Since it can be hard to completely erase a photograph from the internet, you should only post pictures that portray your child in a positive light. Keep in mind that these photos may be shared and that your child may encounter them throughout their lives.[3]
    1. Avoid using photos to shame your child. Even if your baby is not on social media now, they may be in the future.
    2. Photos of sick children, especially pictures that display vomiting or diarrhea, may make both your child and your friends uncomfortable.[4]
  4. Picture 4 of How to Safely Post Photos of Your Baby Online
    Ask other parents for permission to post group pictures. If you have pictures of your baby with other children, ask the parents of the other children if they are comfortable with the picture being posted online. Respect their decision if they say they do not want it online.[5]
    1. Always tell the other parent where you are posting the picture when asking. You can say, 'I have this cute picture of our two babies together. Do you mind if I post it on Facebook?'
    2. If they don't mind you posting the picture, you should ask, 'Do you want me to tag you in it or not?'
    3. If you still want to post the picture online, you might decide to crop the other children out of it.
Method 2 of 3:

Checking Your Privacy Settings

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    Read the terms and conditions. When you post a picture online, you are agreeing to the policies that the host website has asserted. Some websites may claim ownership over all photos that you post to their platform. This will include photos of your baby. To ensure that you understand the website's policies, read through its terms of use and privacy policies carefully.
    1. Many social media sites retain the right to 'sub-license' your photos. This means that they can sell them to a third-party. The terms and conditions may state that they can do this 'royalty-free'—in other words, without paying you.[6]
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    Set your photos to private. On most social media sites, you have the power to limit who can and cannot see your images. Go to your account settings, and select the privacy option.[7] You may have the option to:
    1. Only allow specific users to see your photos of your baby
    2. Refuse other social media users the right to share your photograph
    3. Deny friends of your friends the ability to see the picture
    4. Refuse other people the ability to tag your image (thus preventing it from appearing on feeds and profiles of strangers)
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    Use a photo-sharing website. If the risk of a social media site is too high for you, you can also upload your baby's pictures to a photo-sharing website. These websites, which include Flickr and Photobucket, offer you the ability to make private albums. You can then send the link to the album to particular family members and friends. They will not be able to share or send these photos as they might be on other sites.[8]
    1. You can also upload the photos to a file sharing platform like Google Drive or Dropbox. Create a file for the pictures, and share that file with family and friends by typing in their emails.
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    Turn off location services. Most websites use a form of location services that can potentially identify your exact location at any time. If you are worried about people finding out where you and your baby live, you should turn off all location services on your social media websites.[9]
    1. Geotagging is disabled by default on Facebook and Twitter, but you will still have the option to manually 'pin' your location. Avoid using this feature when posting baby pictures.[10]
    2. If you take pictures on your phone, make sure that your phone is not recording where the image is taken. You can do this by going to settings, and hitting the option for location services. Turn it off for the phone's camera.
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    Ask others to follow your rules. In addition to policing your own profile, you will need to make sure that all family members and friends understand these rules, as they may want to post their own pictures of your baby. Decide if you are comfortable with them posting pictures. If you are, let them know how private you want the pictures to be.
    1. If you don't want them posting at all, you can say, 'I'm very worried about my baby's privacy online, and I would appreciate it if you didn't post any pictures of them on social media or other websites.
    2. If you're fine with them posting, you can say, 'If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it if you only shared that picture within our family or friend group. I don't want strangers to potentially see pictures of my baby.'
Method 3 of 3:

Protecting the Photos Online

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    Avoid stating your child's name. You should avoid putting as much personal information as you can about your baby online. To protect the baby's identity, avoid using their name on social media. You can use a nickname or their initials instead.
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    Share photos using an app. There are many apps these days designed to allow you to safely share photos of your baby with family and friends. These apps will protect your image rights while preventing strangers from accessing photos of your baby.[11] Some notable apps include:
    1. Lifecake
    2. Tiny Beans
    3. KidsLink
    4. Moment Garden
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    Watermark your photo. To prevent people from stealing the image of your child to use for other purposes—such as advertising or blog posts—you can watermark all of your baby's photos. A watermark is a clear but distinguishable mark that establishes who owns the photograph.[12]
    1. To add a watermark in Photoshop, use the type tool. Over the photo, type your name over the photograph in gray font. You can edit the size, transparency, and font of the text.
    2. You can also use an app, such as A+ Signature or Marksta, to add a watermark.[13]
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    Lower the resolution of the photograph. Before posting the picture online, try lowering the resolution so that the picture is less attractive to steal. The quality of the photograph will still be good enough for your family to enjoy, but others will not be able to print or enlarge it as easily.[14]
    1. To do this in Photoshop, go to Image on the toolbar and select Image Size. A dialog box will pop up. Uncheck the box that says 'Resample Image' and type in a new resolution. You may want to type in half of the original resolution.
    2. Some online programs may also allow you to resize a file.
    3. Always save the original HD copy for your own use at home.
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    File take-down requests. If someone uses the photo inappropriately, you can send them a take-down request. First, contact the user, and ask them to remove the image from their blog, profile, or website. If they do not comply, you can contact the image host and report that it is a stolen image. In most cases, the website will remove the image for you.
    1. You can send an email that states, "I recently discovered that you have used an image of my child on your website. As this image was unlawfully taken from my social media page, I am asking you to remove it. I do not want my child's image used for this purpose. If you do not remove it, I will report you to the image host."
    2. On Facebook, hover your mouse over the photo, and click options in the bottom right of the picture. Click 'report.' Facebook may ask you why you want the image removed. You can state that it is a stolen image of your child.
    3. On Twitter, click the 'more' button (this appears as a series of three dots). Next hit 'Report,' and report the image.
    4. On Instagram, tap the three dots, and hit 'Report.'
    5. For Snapchat, you can email them at safety@snapchat.com.
Update 24 March 2020
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