In the first week of February, 2025 a
short audio-visual content showcasing an embarrassed, extremely traumatized
child with his face under blankets became viral on Instagram. It essentially
found its way in other social media platforms too. The audible contents and the
accompanying texts suggested that the child
apparently spent a little fortune for accessing online games. No parent of
middle class family would be happy for such behavior of children. Parents of
this child were neither! they expressed
their frustration and anger by publicly shaming the child by capturing the
‘scolding’s’, child’s crying face, attempts to hide under the blanket and (not
to forget) images of other children who were visibly perplexed as whom to
support. The issue became viral and attracted netizens attention. Many schooled
the parents for such unethical exposure of the child. But, can the parents be
really made liable for exposing an embarrassed child in such manner if we see
this from various existing laws in India?
How a child becomes victim of over exposure by parents /lawful guardians?
Let me take you, my readers back to 2012,
when Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World and a Bollywood celebrity was famously
photographed trying to cover her infant daughter’s face by every mean. As a
parent she had tirelessly tried to protect her daughter from paparazzi and
social media entrepreneurs who attempt to make a fortune by showcasing the
images of celebrities from different angels. Aishwarya’s daughter grew up to
attract limelight and became subject-matter of content creators who started
sharing fake news and even health-updates about her. The child was not exposed
by her parents. But she continued to get exposed on different internet
platforms without her or her parents’ consent.
In this case, clearly, the parents
(who are her legal guardians) are not liable for her over exposure and potential
harms of impersonation, privacy infringement, doxing, defamation, cyber
stalking, subjecting her images for the purpose of online child sexual abuse
materials etc.
But now consider the case of the
young boy (mentioned above) who was shamed by his parents on social media
handles for spending family fortune for online gaming. The facial image of the
boy is identifiable and the exposure has been made by the
parents/adult family members. The boy was visibly NOT CONSENTING for
photographs.
In numbers of social media profiles,
parents continue to upload the images and audio-visual contents of their
children and India is no exception. But majority of the parents may not be
aware that this very act may expose and over expose their children to different
patterns of victimization. Interestingly parents of Gen Z, Gen Alpha and Gen
Beta are aware of different kinds of online victimsiation, including patterns
of online child sexual abuse materials. But they may not be able to accept the
truth that they themselves can become tools for online victimization for their
children.
Bossing over the “consent” and privacy of the children
In general, parents are given the
profile of “In-Charge” data principal under S.2j of the Digital Personal Data
Protection Act, 2023. The Clause defines the data principal as individual to whom the personal data relates
and where such individual is a child , includes the parents or lawful guardian
of such a child and where the individual is a person with disability (whether
adult or child), includes her lawful guardian, acting on her behalf.
But not to forget, Digital Personal
Data Protection Act, 2023 or the Draft Digital personal Data Protection Rule,
2025 are not the only legal documents that are giving such “supremacy” for
parents to decide about the ‘consent’ of the children to share their data
including images (which carries vital personally identifiable data). Laws and
statutes like Constitution of India, Indian Contract Act, Indian Penal Code,
Indian Criminal Procedure Code, Indian Evidence Act (and now the Bharatiya
Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha
Adhiniyam, Transfer of Property Act,
Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act and so many like this give the parents
of minor children key responsibilities to handle their ‘consent’. Until the
child turns 18, it is mandatory to accept consent of the parents as that of the
child. But there is only one exception to this rule: in case the child is
abused or the child feels threatened or uncomfortable due to the act of her/his
parents /legal guardians, the court is bound to take note of the consent of the
child to relocate her/him with different ‘guardian’. We get to see this in some child custody
cases and in cases of child sexual abuse. This is because the philosophy of
child welfare is glaringly dominated over the demand for supremacy of parents over the
opinions of children regarding their sense of comfort and security through Juvenile Justice Care and Protection
Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act in matrimonial dispute
cases and in cases, cases of corporeal punishment of children, cases of willful
negligence and traumatizing of children by abandoning them and/or by suppressing
their basic needs of food , shelter and physical security and in cases of child sexual abuse cases.
Apparently we get to see execution of such ‘bossing over’ mentality of the parents in cases of choice of dresses and accessories, choice of schools, forcing the child to participate in the family functions where he/she is not feeling comfortable and so on. But this bossy decision making nature of the parents (which in India and in many other jurisdictions are accepted as a social norm) may not play good for the safety and security of the children always.
Why privacy of child matters
Imagine when the little child
photographed adorned in dresses and accessories chosen by the parents gets
bullied on Instagram by her/his peers
shaming the appearance and the dresses that may not suit their taste! Imagine when the child is targeted in
real life as the child of parents who are YouTube controversy creators! Imagine
if the child is constantly targeted by unknown people because his/her parents
are social media influencers and use him/her as example for best parenting
tips….
One day the parents will leave internet because of their age, fragile cognitive power or because of their wish to withdraw from the internet. But the contents created with their children (without even considering for their consent) will remain floated on internet. Research , experience and experiments have proved that contents which may have attracted high rate of views, discussions , do not ‘evaporate’ even if the original content creator pulls down the content from their database. There are many ways to download, re-share, forward and recreate the old contents. Minor children, their images and audio visual recordings along with their parents therefore may remain on the internet not only during the lifetime of the ‘children’, but also during the life time of the next generation of such ‘children’. The child in question will never be able to enjoy the right be left alone . his/her medical conditions, mental health conditions, school life, exam records, likes and dislikes will be matters of public affair and the no third party, but his/her own parents will be solely responsible for such privacy infringement of the child.
Can the child sue the parents for privacy infringement in digital
platform?
The answer is YES. Even if the
parents are in-charge data principal of the children, if the acts of the
parents infringe the privacy of the children or exposes the children to grave
threat, children can take legal action against their own parents. Not to
forget, Protection of children from sexual offences Act, 2013 makes the scope
of the Act wide enough to include “whoever” as the perpetrator if the same has
violated the laws including creating/distributing etc., of child porn
materials. S.67B of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (amended in 2008) also
sings the same song. This will be possible if the child takes the complaint to
the police, judicial magistrate or the Child Welfare Committee. Not to forget, the Constitution and child
welfare centric laws make the State a ‘guardian’ when the natural/legal
guardian of the child exposes him/her to dangerous situation which may cause
physical and mental trauma. A careful
reading of the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection Act along with Bharatiya
Nyaya Sanhita may also suggest that children
can access justice against their own parents if the latter plays crucial
role in violating the child’s basic rights including privacy.
The denouement
While parents can have the right to
decide for the best interest of the child, the decision may not always fetch
best results. Awareness is growing for safer internet for children and adults.
But adults must be responsible enough to create safe and healthy examples for
children.
Put yourself
in the place of the child and think how he/she would be treated for his/her
digital presence.
Acknowledge
the future risks of online harms even if you are a cyber-security guru.
Take timely
action to protect the privacy of the child.
Prepare the child for the BIG BAD
world like a pro to have sigma energy.
Please don't violate the copyright of the blog. Please cite it as Halder Debarati (2025) Privacy thy name is………. child: understanding the responsibilities of parents to protect the privacy of children in the digital platforms. . Published in https://debaraticyberspace.blogspot.com/2025/02/privacy-thy-name-is-child-understanding.html on February 23, 2025
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