No more posting children's photos online. The Human Rights Ombudsman has taken up the matter.

• The Commissioner for Human Rights assesses that publishing images of children online may lead to serious consequences, including their use for criminal purposes.
• Data shows that almost half of teenagers in Poland are published online by their parents, which causes shame and dissatisfaction in over 20% of them.
• In Poland, there are no effective regulations protecting children from their parents sharing their image, and a child only has the right to delete data after reaching the age of majority.

The issue of posting photos of children on social media has its supporters and opponents, and so far, there is no legal prohibition against them in Poland. However, the Commissioner for Human Rights is monitoring the phenomenon, assessing that disseminating photos of children online "may have negative consequences for children, including the use of the material for criminal sexual purposes." It is estimated that up to 50% of the material collected by pedophiles comes from social media.

In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, spokesman Marcin Wiącek also points out that children may be exposed to hate, mockery and harmful comments not only online.

Data from NASK and the Ministry of National Education show that as many as 40% of parents share photos and videos of their children online. In some cases, parents post content that is humiliating to the child. This diminishes the child's dignity and makes them the butt of a joke—without any real consequences.

The Teenagers 3.0 report shows that 45.5% of Polish teenagers say their parents or guardians post their photos publicly; 23.6% feel embarrassed about it, and 18.8% feel dissatisfied. According to the EU Kids Online 2018 study, as many as 42% of children have experienced unpleasant comments.

Even the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 16, recognizes the right to respect for one's private, family, or home life and to protection of one's honor and reputation. It also prohibits harassment of children via electronic means of communication.

The Commissioner points out that the Constitution states that "defense against digital violence is aimed at protecting a child's personal rights, including their good name and dignity. The right to privacy is closely linked to the inherent and inviolable dignity of a child, the protection of which is the responsibility of public authorities in the context of publishing their image on the Internet."

It is necessary to regulate the activity of social media in the law in terms of protecting children and their rights, so that their image is processed to a limited extent and the process itself can be subject to control by formal legal protection bodies.

- appeals to the Minister of Digital Affairs, the Commissioner for Human Rights.

Currently, if parents share photos of their child online, under the GDPR, they can only request the deletion of this data after they reach the age of majority. The Commissioner for Human Rights emphasizes that there are currently no effective regulations protecting children from such actions by their parents. Therefore, it is necessary to align Polish law with EU regulations and conduct educational activities to raise awareness on this issue.