To not let my kids appear on school social media?

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Since DC started school, I've never consented to their pictures appearing on social media.

I thought a lot of parents would do the same, but the majority of parents do seem to have consented as the social feeds are full of lovely pictures of everyone else's kids.

Last week for example, there were lots of great pictures of sports day, and the week before, pictures of a school trip.

I'm now beginning to think I'm just making myself miss out on nice pictures of DC at school events, and actually there's no a real downside to letting them be in the pictures.

What does everyone else think? AIBU to not consent, or is there a real risk to having pictures of children on open public social media?

You were the one who said you don't use any social media, so I was just asking if you realised that MN is a social media site. 🤷‍♀️

You might not post photos on here of your children, but there have been many others who do. Especially when it comes to injuries, rashes or other medical issues.

so you would say no to her appearing in a west end musical or Netflix show if that was her talent? That’s awful.

Working in tech doesn’t give you any more insight into what people post on public accounts than anyone else

Actually it gives me far more exposure than most on how people interact with tech.

But I think you’re attempting to rile people up now and not having a debate in good faith. So good day to you and your nonsense.

I think if they, say, won the county championships for 100m butterfly you might find some photos were taken when they collect their medal, yes.

and it’s not a gotcha, I’m asking whether their children’s need for privacy overrides their child’s ability to take up opportunities theyre passionate about. But if as you say, they are also parents who can’t be arsed with the effort maybe that’s part of the underlying issue.

I have removed all consent to share my kids' pictures on social media or the school website. I was pretty blase before but I have been working with Police Teams recently, and AI manipulation of kids' pictures from the school website is not a myth; it's very real. Schools are now receiving guidance that they should not put kids' faces online at all due to the risk. Schools have genuinely been blackmailed with AI manipulations of kids' images taken from their sites. To those saying they would not be bothered and Police would catch perpetrators, you have absolutely no idea of the volume of offences /images. But suffice to say there are people in your local area doing this and if you think you are OK with it.... I think schools' photographic policies will be updated next term and they will need to be explicit with parents about the risks.

You’re actually just trolling now.
Parenting not wanting their child to be shared publicly on the internet quite clearly does not equate to the parent not being arsed to make an effort with their children.

Your posts are bizarre, is so disturbing to be so obsessive to many different posters about why they need to allow their child’s image online.

I feel like often this is an overcompensation from people were not aware of the dangers and refuse to accept they did anything that could have been disadvantageous to their child so they double down and turn just downright nasty.

when I first had children 15 years ago I naively shared photos on Facebook as I wanted to show off my new baby. A couple of years later I wised up and deleted all photos and have never consented for school to use images . There is no need for children to be on social media , it’s not worth the risk.

Are you mistaking me for another poster? I don’t understand this post at all. What’s obsessive about asking 2 posters whether they’d curb their child’s talent and ambitions for fear of their image being published?

There is no need to curb a child’s talent because you don’t want them shared publicly online.

It is not a requirement for any club, activity or hobby that a child needs to be shared online in order to attend or compete.

Your illogical strawman arguments are beyond stupid.

I don't even put pictures of myself in public. You have no idea what AI can do in the future. But you can imagine... facial recognition comes to mind.

Our school is quite good in that it takes pictures of the kids from the back/you generally can't see their faces. But I've also not consented to make doubly sure.

It's quite sad in a way that our "progress" in tech has actually made us less free. Old school print newspapers without risk of it going online would be lovely.

i asked if they would allow them to perform on stage or TV. Where their image would be available to hundreds or millions of people.

That’s Nothing to do with social media, although the end result is the same, image published.

YANBU. I don't allow it.

The really tough moments come with whole class performances, when they ask everyone if they consent to letting attendees film. I've felt deeply unpopular before when being the lone voice saying no, I don't consent. If I could trust other parents to keep the recordings private it wouldn't be an issue but from bitter experience I've learned you absolutely cannot trust anyone. I've had so many experiences of seeing people put videos up of their kid and other kids online, no privacy settings, for the whole world to see.

As my child gets older it becomes harder and harder to maintain his privacy and safety online. I feel you. I don't consent to the school putting pictures of him online and frankly I think a bit less of them that they would even do it to begin with, with any child. They're supposed to be at least somewhat interested in safeguarding!

You will get comments saying you're overreacting cos loads of people think nothing of putting pics online of their kids. Half naked, I've even seen fully naked, in school uniform so it's clear which school they go to, full legal name and birthday, all sorts. So many parents just don't stop for a moment to think. So be aware that's where those comments are coming from.

You'd be surprised.

We wanted to sign up for a football group, I emailed ahead of time to check that kids could attend without consenting to being posted online (their page had loads of photos on). They said oh absolutely! That's totally fine!

Went along and realised that nearly every parent was recording the whole thing, every child there. Literally sat on the edge filming it. I asked the organiser if that was allowed and they said yes of course.

We didn't go back. Even if event organisers aren't recording, many of them won't take a stance against parents doing it. And we all know we can't trust parents not to post it online. It's happened to us multiple times.

I work in early years and we have very strict rules about taking photos and sharing them. I know some childminders who will only send photos to parents that include their own child, not any other children. Based on this, I wouldn’t allow my children to be on anything shared outside of the school, especially at primary but would probably allow it for secondary. Obviously risks are low, but not 0. It’s a shame as I used to like seeing my photos in the school magazine as a kid, but it’s not really necessary

Can you post your source on this? Thanks.

As an aside. I always thought that filming someone else's child was a big no no, a bit of a taboo. Something you actively tried not to do and made clear wasn't happening. I thought it had been that way for years.

Only to find with having a child of my own that it apparently isn't the case anymore? Nobody seems bothered at all. I don't mean super busy places where you wouldn't get any pics at all if others weren't in them, but in situations where you could easily avoid including someone else (quiet park, only a few people around, could change angle or wait until nobody is right next to you) everyone seems to think it's totally fine to record other people's children now. Is it a culture change?

You can say you are happy to have your children shared publicly online, but to be disingenuous and suggest the other side of the coin is not being able to look back on family pictures when your children are older is just blatantly ridiculous
It's looking back at school pictures which is something most enjoy doing. Hence the sharing of these of us when we were in school ourselves when we rekindle old friendships and ask everyone for school pictures.

As for saying covering kids on the beach. How are children more protected from taking pictures of children in swimming suits that still show the lines of their bodies, compared to them in uniforms! Totally defies logic!

Schools can share photos with parents without putting them online though, like my children’s school did
Sure, give them yet more things to do. I can't imagine how much time is to be wasted by schools to rift through all the pictures and sent them to individual parents, after editing all of them so it only shows their own kids. Ridiculous.

I'd still like to hear why it is such a risk compared to taking your kids on a beach where it would be so easy for any paedo to take pictures without parents lounging for a tan taking notice.

I’m a teacher. I will always try and get some photos of children who aren’t allowed on social media when we are doing special activities and email them to parents, because I also don’t want my child to be posted on social media but know how lovely it is for parents to see photos like that.

If you want to understand the difference it’s actually very easy for you to find out.
You’re simply choosing to remain ignorant and make ridiculous comparisons.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/may/08/uk-schools-remove-pupils-photos-online-ai-blackmail-threat-grows

*You’re simply choosing to remain ignorant and make ridiculous comparisons
Resulting to personal insults, how predictable.

You provide a link about the danger of AI and blackmailing school. Ok! But again, how are parents protecting their kids on the beach! That's the question?

The ultimate intent is to protect the kids rather than the schools...

Quoting media though is no surprise. The media want parent to react in shock, that get them to read more and more of the same. It makes money...and readers think their small world is under immediate threat.

No, you asked what the difference was. The difference is one deemed a serious and real threat by the National Crime Agency and specifically advises that schools should not share images of pupils online, and should remove current images.

There is simply no benefit or need for schools to share images of children publicly online.

Quoting media though is no surprise. The media want parent to react in shock, that get them to read more and more of the same. It makes money...and readers think their small world is under immediate threat.

What does the media have to do with several internet and crime bodies making very clear guidance to schools regarding this issue?

My children are all adults now so my perception of risk around images is very different to that of parents of younger children today.
If you refuse permission for the school to take pictures of your child because of fear that those images will be used in deep fakes do you also stop your child from taking part in sports or group activities where parents or other strangers can watch (and will take photos or film whether they are allowed to or not and in a much less controlled environment)? I read a above pp had refused to return to an activity where parents were filming.
In my experience many more photos were taken and shared at matches/ tournaments and performances than at school. Now, many years later, it's those photos that pop up every so often, not the school photos.
At what point does a genuine attempt to protect our children become, in itself, harmful?