Family photos can reveal more than expected. Private profiles, careful photo choices, and limited identifying details can reduce the risk of copying and AI deepfakes.
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Sharing a family photo can be a lovely way to include relatives and friends in an important moment. The risk changes when that photo is visible to anyone on the internet.
Public images can be copied, saved, reposted, or placed into an AI tool without your permission. Modern tools can use an ordinary photograph to create a convincing fake image or video of a real person. This does not mean families must stop sharing photos, but it does mean we should be more deliberate about the audience and the details we reveal.
Make your profile private
If you regularly share photos of your family or children, set your social media profile to the highest practical privacy level. This limits posts to people you have approved rather than allowing strangers to browse your family history.
Privacy settings can change, so review them from time to time. Check:
- Who can see new and older posts
- Who can view your friends or followers
- Whether search engines can find your profile
- Who can tag you or add posts to your profile
- Whether other people can share your posts
- Which applications have access to your photos
A private account reduces exposure, but it cannot guarantee that an image stays private. An approved contact can still save a photo or take a screenshot. Keep the audience limited to people you know and trust.
Reconsider your main profile photo
Your main profile and cover photos may be visible more widely than your regular posts, even when your account is private. They are also easy to find because they sit at the front of your account.
Consider using a photo that does not show your children or your whole family. A landscape, pet, hobby, simple illustration, or photo of the adult account holder can still make the account recognisable to friends without placing a clear family image in the most public position.
Check how your profile appears when viewed by someone who is not connected to you. Each platform handles profile visibility differently, and the safest setting is the one you have confirmed rather than the one you assume is active.
Remove details that identify a child
A photo can reveal more than a face. Uniforms, sporting club logos, house numbers, street signs, certificates, and location tags can identify where a child lives, studies, or spends time.
Before posting, look at the whole image and its caption. Avoid combining a clear face with a full name, school, suburb, regular activity, birthday, or daily routine. Posting after an event has finished is also safer than announcing where your family is in real time.
Ask children for their view when they are old enough to understand. A photo may feel harmless to an adult but embarrassing or too personal to the child who will carry that digital history.
Why AI has increased the risk
A deepfake is an AI generated image, video, or audio file that falsely depicts a real person. Easy access to image tools means someone no longer needs advanced editing skills to manipulate a photograph.
On 28 July 2026, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner issued a new warning about publicly shared school imagery. Between January and March, eSafety received more than 100 reports involving anonymous accounts that targeted schools and school staff. Almost all involved images collected from school social media accounts or websites.
The reports included face swaps, fake videos, memes, and fabricated stories. eSafety has also warned that ordinary images can be altered into sexualised deepfakes without consent.
This does not mean every public family photo will be misused. It shows that publicly available images are easy to collect and that convincing manipulation is becoming easier.
The warning also sits alongside the Australian Government’s For the Good Of campaign, which explains the social media minimum age changes. That campaign focuses on access for children under 16, while the new eSafety advice reminds adults that their own posting choices also shape a child’s privacy.
Share with a smaller audience
You can still keep family connected without publishing every image to a broad social network. Consider:
- A private family message group
- A shared album limited to invited people
- Direct messages to trusted relatives
- Email for occasional photo updates
- Printing favourite photos for family members
Before sharing an image containing another child, ask their parent or carer. Their family may have different privacy needs or may have chosen not to publish that child online.
Review what is already public
Search your own name and inspect your social profiles while signed out. Remove older public posts that reveal too much, review tagged photos, and ask relatives not to publish family images without checking first.
If an image is misused, save evidence, report the account or post to the platform, and use eSafety’s reporting options when the content involves child cyberbullying, serious abuse, or intimate material, including a sexualised deepfake.
Family photos are valuable because they preserve real memories. A few careful choices about privacy, profile images, identifying details, and audience can help keep those memories with the people they were intended for.