THE EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE LIMITS OF CIVIL LIABILITY AND DIGITAL PLATFORMS IN THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN'S PRIVACY AND IMAGE

Abstract

This article examines the limits of civil liability of parents, legal guardians and digital platforms regarding the exposure of children's image and privacy on social media, a phenomenon intensified by sharenting practices and by the so called childhood adultification. It starts from the constitutional premise of integral protection and absolute priority set forth in article 227 of the 1988 Federal Constitution, combined with article 3 of the Child and Adolescent Statute, to then investigate the civil liability regime applicable to parents due to abuse of family power and eventual monetization of children's image, as well as the liability regime of digital platforms established by article 19 of the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, which generally conditions liability on non compliance with a specific judicial removal order. It also discusses the intersection of this regime with the General Data Protection Law, notably article 14, which regulates the processing of children's personal data. The research, of qualitative and exploratory nature, with a deductive approach and bibliographic documentary technique, concludes that parental liability still lacks consolidated objective parameters in case law, while the protective regime applicable to digital platforms remains insufficient given the urgency that cases involving children demand, a scenario now addressed by the recent Law No. 15,211/2025 (Digital Statute of the Child and Adolescent), regulated by Decree No. 12,880/2026, which turned into a legal duty, rather than a mere doctrinal recommendation, the adoption of a qualified duty of care and preventive content moderation mechanisms.