With the advent of social media, a new phenomenon has emerged: sharenting. It consists of parents posting a multitude of personal information about their children on social networks, such as photographs, videos and comments.
This practice exposes children to a number of risks, including the usurpation of their personal information by malicious third parties, or the future use of this data by companies. As for the use and privacy policies of social networks, they offer little recourse to children in the event of an invasion of their privacy by a parent.
In focus groups, parents and young adults advocate transparency on the part of the parent and respect for the child's wishes. Although they say they are aware of the risks associated with sharenting, parents consider that what they publish cannot be harmful to the child, and feel protected by the privacy settings of social networks.
The Canadian legal framework seems ill-suited to the realities of sharenting. Although children have a right to privacy, it is the parents who exercise their rights on their behalf and give the consent required by law. The law offers certain protections against malicious third parties; however, applying these provisions in the virtual context can prove complex.
In this context, educating parents about the consequences of sharing children's personal information online appears to be the most promising approach to preventing harm to children.
