Ryan shared a story about his friend who went through a scary experience that developed into a dilemma – what do you do as a parent when your child’s innocence is being threatened? An incident on a public beach involving his friend’s daughter and a stranger taking photos of her sparked the conversation.

A similar situation for a parent whose child’s picture was used online

As a parent you’d do anything to protect your child. We heard from a lot of you about what you would do in the situation. We also heard from one listener who went through an experience of her child’s photo ending up on a pornographic website and how she handled it.

What does the law say?

Emma Sadleir is South Africa’s leading expert on social media law. She specialises in educating people around the legalities and risks of social media, she was able to clarify some of the steps that a parent could take in this situation:

Does the POPI Act come into play here?

So if someone is taking pictures of your child in a public space, does the POPI Act have any merit in this scenario. Louella Tindale is a legal expert in this field.