Italian mother warned by court over sharing photos of son on social media

An Italian mother has been warned to stop putting photos of her teenage son on Facebook. Photo / Getty

An Italian woman has been banned from posting images of her teenage son on social media, and threatened with a €10,000 fine if she defies it.

The 16-year-old had made a court complaint about his mother's social media habits, which included posting pictures of him on Facebook without his consent.

A Rome family court dealing with the mother's divorce from the teen's father, ruled in the 16-year-old's favour.

The teenager had grown tired of his mother's oversharing online and the issue was brought up during divorce proceedings.

The court ruled that as per Italian copyright law, the subject of the photographs owns the copyright and the mother was therefore in breach.

The unnamed woman was told she faces a €10,000 ($16,600) fine unless she stops publishing information about her son online.

She must also remove any images, posts and videos of the teenager from her social media accounts, Euronews reports.

The website quoted lawyer Giuseppe Croari as saying that the mother had also effectively violated Facebook's terms and conditions by posting images to which she did not have the copyright.

Facebook's Terms of Service states that users agree to "not post content or take any action on Facebook that infringes or violates someone else's rights or otherwise violates the law."