The court will examine whether the influencer's foundation promoting sharenting operates in accordance with the law

The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy submitted a request to the court for an assessment of the “Children are z nami” foundation that promotes sharing. According to the ministry, this may be illegal.

At the end of September, Mirosław Wróblewski, the president of the Office for Personal Data Protection, asked the ministry to consider taking appropriate supervisory actions against the foundation and persuading it to discontinue activities that violate children's rights to the protection of their personal data and privacy.

Earlier, children's rights ombudsman Monika Horna-Cieślak and the Empowering Children Foundation also wrote to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy on this matter. The ministry sent the appropriate application to the court on September 29.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy explained that in accordance with applicable law, it is the court, not the ministry, that registers foundations and assesses the compliance of their statutes with applicable regulations.

“The Ministry does not issue opinions on registration applications, but within the framework of its statutory competences, it may – as a supervisory authority – apply to the court to assess the foundation's activities if there are serious doubts as to its compliance with the law,” the ministry wrote in a message sent to PAP.

He emphasized that “he treats the issue of protecting children's rights, in particular the right to privacy and protection of their image on the Internet, with the utmost seriousness.”

According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the public debate should absolutely emphasize that publishing photos of children on the Internet may involve risk even when it results from the good intentions of parents or guardians. This may lead to violation of the child's privacy, cyberbullying, loss of control over the image, as well as to the use of the child's data for criminal or marketing purposes.

“Responsibility for protecting children's images online rests primarily with parents or legal guardians. Regardless of the above, the ministry notes the need to undertake broader information and educational activities regarding publishing children's images on the Internet,” noted the Ministry of Family and Labor.

The “Children are with us” foundation was established in July this year. It was founded by Aniela Woźniakowska, an influencer known as Lil Masti (formerly known as SexMasterka).

Informing her online followers about the foundation, she wrote:

“We stand up to movements that want to eliminate the image of children from the Internet. We support parents in decisions related to sharing.”

Sharenting is the publication of information by parents via social networking sites that violates the child's privacy. Research shows that in Poland 40 percent parents share photos and videos of their children in this way.

Katarzyna Czarnecka (PAP)

ksc/ joz/