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Press Complaints Commission guidance on media use of Facebook pictures

The Press Complaints Commission in the UK has ruled against the Scottish Sunday Express in a decision on the use by journalists of images taken without permission from social networking sites like Facebook.

The case concerned a complaint by three parents that an article headlined Anniversary shame of Dunblane survivors, published in the Scottish Sunday Express on 8 March 2009, intruded into their sons’ private lives in breach of Clause 3 (Privacy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice.

The complaint was upheld.

The Commission, in a July 6, 2009 statement, said it considers that it can be acceptable in some circumstances for the press to publish information taken from such websites, even if the material was originally intended for a small group of acquaintances rather than a mass audience.

However, this is normally when the individual concerned has come to public attention as a result of their own actions, or are otherwise relevant to an incident currently in the news when they may expect to be the subject of some media scrutiny.

Additionally, if the images used are freely available, innocuous and used simply to illustrate what someone looks like it is less likely that publication will amount to a privacy intrusion.

Circumventing privacy settings to obtain information will require a public interest justification, said the Commission.

PCC finding

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