black parents take a picture with their child at the airport

In the past decade, more parents have started taking a closer look at how they share their children’s lives online. Posting a birthday photo or a first-day-of-school picture used to feel harmless. Now it raises questions about consent, privacy, and what happens to those images once they’re out in the world. Some parents post pictures of children online freely. Others blur or cover their kids’ faces. Some parents avoid posting pictures of children online entirely. 

This shift reflects how much the digital landscape has changed. Photos can travel far beyond their intended audience. Children today grow up with online footprints created long before they can give input. At the same time, parents want to stay connected with loved ones and document childhood moments. 

Why Some Parents Choose to Cover Children’s Faces in Pictures They Post Online 

For many families, covering a child’s face helps them control their child’s image. It lets them decide who sees it, and how it might be used later. Once a photo is online, it can be screenshotted, altered, or circulated without the parent’s knowledge. This isn’t theoretical: children’s photos have ended up in impersonation accounts, online parenting forums, and, in more troubling cases, manipulated or sexualized content. As image-editing tools and AI-generated deepfake technology become more accessible, the potential for misuse grows. Read our recent blog post, Sexual Deepfakes: The Dangers of AI-Generated CSAM to learn more. 

Public examples have fueled this shift. TikTok creator Maia Knight gained a large following by sharing her life with her twins. But she eventually stopped showing their faces in pictures she posted online. She realized how quickly their images could spread. Her decision sparked widespread conversation and moved everyday parents  to rethink their own practices. Other influencers, celebrities, and even family bloggers have moved in the same direction. They recognize that once a child’s face becomes part of their “brand,” it can take on a life of its own, one the child never consented to.

Broader Considerations 

Beyond safety concerns, many parents simply want to give their kids the chance to decide what their digital presence looks like once they’re old enough to understand it. Childhood should be a time when kids can make mistakes, explore their identities, and grow without an audience watching. Covering faces or keeping details minimal when you post pictures of children online gives children space to develop privately, on their own timeline.

Beyond safety and sharing habits, parents must consider the wider context. Children today are growing up with a digital footprint that often begins before they can talk. Photos posted now may still exist when they’re applying for college, interviewing for jobs, or navigating social situations. Even innocent images can be taken out of context in the future.

There’s also the issue of commercial use. Some platforms reserve broad rights to images uploaded on their sites. Most parents don’t read the fine print, but it’s worth knowing that posting a photo sometimes gives a company permission to use that image in ways you can’t fully control.

The Dangers of Deepfakes 

Another emerging concern involves artificial intelligence (AI) and its uses in the exploitation of children. Generative AI has advanced so much that harmful actors can now create fully AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This material can look alarmingly realistic, even without using any real child’s images in the process. Predators can also take pictures of children posted online and edit them to appear sexually explicit, creating sexual deepfakes of children using AI generation or photo editing technology. This material is illegal and harmful, and platforms are under increasing pressure to detect and block it. Our research shows that 45 states have also passed laws to criminalize the creation of AI-generated CSAM. Sharing, trading, or selling sexual deepfakes of children is already illegal under federal law and in almost all state laws as well. 

The rapid expansion of AI-generated CSAM complicates the digital landscape because such content can be produced at scale, flood reporting systems, and distract resources from real victims of sexual abuse. This makes it harder to identify and protect children who are genuinely at risk of being abused. Policymakers and child safety advocates note that this is one of the newest dimensions of online exploitation that families and communities must consider as part of broader digital safety practices. 

The Threat of Sextortion

It’s also becoming an increasingly common crime for predators to create sexual deepfakes of children and then engage in sextortion. Sextortion is when someone  threatens to share a sexual image unless the child or family sends them money (financial sextortion) or further sexual images (sexually-motivated sextortion). Several teenagers who have been victims of this crime have died by suicide due to the stress of the exploitation. 

Schools and other youth-serving organizations also often post pictures of children online to promote their organizations and activities. The recent spate of sexual deepfakes makes this unsafe. Some predators have engaged in sextortion against schools, demanding money or they will share sexual deepfakes of children they created from images stolen from school websites. One mother in the UK recently developed an app that allows schools to safely store children’s images and modify their faces using AI before posting online. While this could keep children’s images safe, the implications of sharing AI-generated images online in place of real children is also a complicated debate. Schools, youth organizations, and families must keep in mind how they are protecting children’s images whenever they take, share, and store them. 

Potential Drawbacks to Consider

Of course, choosing not to show a child’s face or post children’s pictures online at all has its downsides. For many families, especially those spread across states or countries, sharing photos online is how they stay connected. A partially covered or blurred image can feel like it’s missing the very thing that grandparents or extended family want to see–the child’s expression, personality, and little quirks. 

Another consideration is how children might feel later. Some kids may be grateful their parents protected their privacy; others might wish they had more candid, unobstructed photos from their early years. Parents today are making decisions without knowing exactly how their children will view social media or digital footprints when they’re older. Some families also worry that being too restrictive could send a message that the child needs to be hidden or that the online world is universally unsafe, which isn’t necessarily true. 

These tensions don’t mean there’s a “correct” approach. They simply highlight that no single solution fits every family’s values, comfort levels, or circumstances.

Safer Alternatives for Sharing
white mom takes a selfie with her daughter at breakfast

For parents who want to keep sharing while also reducing risks, there are plenty of options that offer flexibility and control.

Some families use stickers, emojis, or creative cropping to conceal the face while still sharing the memory: an action shot at the beach, a baking session in the kitchen, or a milestone moment. Others photograph children from behind or focus on hands, feet, or the activity itself rather than the child’s full face. These types of photos often capture the feeling of the moment just as clearly.

There are also other platforms parents can use to share their child’s life with relatives. Private, invite-only group chats, or messaging apps (like WhatsApp or Signal), or private shared albums offer more security than public social media pages. Parents could also keep photos in Cloud storage that children could have access to when they grow up. 

If they do choose to still post pictures online, parents could make their Instagram accounts private, so they have to approve followers, and their posts won’t be viewable by anyone online unless they are a follower. They can also set their Facebook posts to “friends only,” so no one who is not a friend can see their posts. While no online environment is completely secure, limiting access helps reduce the likelihood of images being misused.

Some parents take a gradual approach: they share more freely when children are infants, then tighten boundaries as kids grow older and develop their own opinions. Others build a habit of asking for consent early, even with young kids, by explaining, in simple terms, where a photo will be shared and letting the child say yes or no. This small routine teaches bodily autonomy and can build trust around online boundaries.

Conclusion: Share with Care, and with Your Child in Mind

Deciding whether to post pictures of your children online, and whether to show their faces, is a personal and evolving choice. What matters most is being intentional; thinking through the long-term implications, acknowledging the risks, and involving children in decisions whenever you can. Just like any parenting decision, your approach may change as your child grows or as technology shifts.

Thoughtful posting, privacy-minded habits, and open conversations can help you protect your child’s safety and dignity while still celebrating family milestones. At Enough Abuse, we’re committed to helping families navigate these decisions with clarity and confidence.

For more tools and guidance on online safety and preventing child sexual abuse, visit our Online Child Sexual Abuse page to learn more, or download our Prevention Guide for Parents. You can also learn more about other online dangers and how to protect children in our recent blog posts:

Together, we can build a culture where children’s rights, safety, and autonomy come first, both online and offline.

Who we are

ENOUGH ABUSE® is the nation’s oldest citizen-based child advocacy organization, with a 65-year history of improving the lives of vulnerable children. We work in states, nationally, and with international partners to ensure every child’s right to a childhood free from abuse and exploitation.  For over two decades, our primary focus has been to prevent the sexual abuse of children in their homes, communities and online through our effective prevention trainings, education and advocacy.