Can I publish photos or video of people on my social media accounts?

As a rule, personal data concerning other people, such as photographs and video, may be processed for personal use.

• Perhaps you are also participating in the club’s activities yourself in addition to working as an instructor. For example, if you record a video of yourself and your friends in training where you are not working as a coach and want to publish the video on your social media accounts, this is generally permitted.

However, if the club or association publishes photos or video of its members on its social media channels or website, this no longer constitutes processing for personal use. Publishing photos or video of other participants on your social media account in the capacity of a coach or instructor can also be problematic.

In principle, a person publishing photographs or video material on a social media platform should be treated as a controller subject to the resulting obligations, provided that the material is not published for personal use. Since it constitutes processing of personal data, publishing photos and video requires a processing basis under the GDPR.

If an association serving as a controller publishes photos of participants on a social media platform, the people in the photos can request that they be taken down. If a participant complains about the publication of their personal data to the Data Protection Ombudsman, the Data Protection Ombudsman can order the controller to remove the photos or video from the net.

If the publication of the photos has caused damage, the person who suffered the damage can claim compensation from the association or person who published the photos. This could result in a District Court hearing. If the publication of the photos is deemed criminal, for example if a photo meets the statutory definition of defamation, the police will investigate the matter.