Landmark ruling

A Court in the Netherlands has recently ruled that a Grandmother must delete photographs of her grandchildren from her Facebook and Pinterest account. Usually, the GDPR does not apply to the purely personal or household processing of data. However, the ruling indicates that matters such as the above, are beginning to fall within the remit of the GDPR.

This decision is based on the fact that the photographs were posted on social media with no consent and, therefore, this has made the photographs available to a wider audience. As a result, the Court ruled that the photographs may now be distributed without consent and they may end up in the hands of third parties. The Grandmother has since been ordered to remove all of the photographs or pay a fine of fifty euros for every day that she fails to comply with the order, up to a maximum of one thousand pounds.

The ruling highlights that those wishing to post personal data without consent on social media perhaps should start to think twice before doing so, as it is possible that they may be considered to have breached the GDPR and  become liable to pay a fine.