Rosie O'Donnell's ongoing feud with ex Michelle Rounds has become so bitter that they're now fighting over whether it's okay for the actress to post photos of their children on her Instagram page. The argument might seem petty — at least in O'Donnell's and Rounds' case because of their ongoing court custody battle — but it's one in which many moms can identify: does anyone have the right to post photos of our kids without our consent?
The short answer is, of course: yes. Not only can our friends and neighbors tag us in a photo that shows our little ones over at their house for a pool party, but companies can swipe our photos if they are accessible to the public and use them in advertisements. When it comes to photos of our children, the rules are very blurry and it's up to us to learn how to protect our family's privacy.
But let's get back to Rosie, because her dilemma is one many of us deal with on an almost daily basis. Rounds says she snapped a photo of their daughter, Dakota, and that O'Donnell posted it on Instagram without her consent. Rounds argues that she owns the rights to the photo and that her ex shouldn't be allowed to share it with her 133,000 followers.
It's possible these two women are doing whatever they can at this point to get under each other's skin, but I totally understand where Rounds is coming from. The mom says she contacted Instagram to get it removed from O'Donnell's page, but they haven't taken action. If I were O'Donnell I wouldn't consider this a hill I want to die on and I'd simply delete the photo. Sure, Dakota is her child, too, but the photo in question belongs to Rounds — play fair and post one of your personal photos if this is so important to you.
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The bigger issue here is: should other people post photos of our children without asking us first? Since there is no law against doing so, this has become an issue of common courtesy. If someone snaps a photo of my baby and sends it to mutual friends and family, it's fine by me because I know exactly who is viewing it. But I have to admit: I don't feel the same when I log into Facebook to find I've been tagged in a photo on an acquaintance's page — and there's my cute toddler's face — and beneath it: dozens of comments about her appearance from people I've never met.
It's not that I feel people have bad intentions — most love seeing photos of cute kids. But social media is for adults (well, at least that's the idea) and parents should be able to decide whether they feel comfortable bringing their children into an adult arena like FB or Instagram.
It isn't evil to post photos of other people's kids because you think they're adorable — but it would be really polite and sweet if we could all extend a courtesy to that child's parent first.
How do you feel when people post photos of your children on social media without your consent?
Image via Splash News