Photographing is not publishing
In almost every country, taking a photograph in a public place is not in itself unlawful. What the law regulates is dissemination. Some systems require separate consent for each step — one to be recorded, another to be published. Others look only at the result and ask whether publication harms a legitimate interest. Either way, agreeing to be photographed is not agreeing to be published, still less to be published in a different context.
The standard exceptions
Four situations recur almost everywhere: a person illustrating a news event; a person who is merely incidental to a place or scene rather than its subject; crowds and public gatherings, where no individual is singled out; and public figures carrying out their functions. Conversely, commercial or advertising use of someone's likeness almost always requires permission, even where the photograph itself was lawfully taken.
Intimate images: the clearest convergence in recent law
This is the area where legislation has moved fastest and most alike. The rule now spreading everywhere is simple: consent to record is not consent to share. Several systems have removed the requirement to prove an intention to cause distress, which was hard to establish and caused prosecutions to fail. Synthetic and manipulated images of real people are increasingly covered, and platforms are subject to short removal deadlines.
Children: the most poorly handled question
An image of a minor requires the consent of those with parental responsibility, often both. The practical difficulty lies elsewhere: publication by a parent, a school or a sports club. A written refusal is an objection and must be respected, and where an institution uses a consent form, an unsigned form means refusal, not tacit acceptance.
Report first, litigate second
Removal obtained from the platform is almost always faster than a court order. Capture the whole page with the URL, the date and the account name, then use the reporting form, and only then start proceedings. For intimate images, hashing services let participating platforms block re-uploads without you sending the image anywhere.
The law country by country
The legal framework, the procedure, the time limits and the costs differ from one country to another. Each country below has a detailed page: governing texts, key facts, the actual procedure, costs, where to go and the traps to avoid.
Select a country to open its detailed page.