The Personal Data Protection Board (“Board”) rendered a decision dated 30/09/2021 and numbered 2021/989 (“Decision”) on the use of the picture of the data subject in the news content on a website without an explicit consent.
Pursuant to the Decision, it is stated by the guardian of the data subject that the data controller used the photograph belonging to her/his son in the news content in its website, there is no explicit consent for the use of the related photograph and that due to the false news content, data subject has suffered victimization and the personal right of the data subject is violated, despite applying to the data controller, the victimization has continued, a legal action has been taken with a request to block access, that some URL’s have been blocked as a result of the application however, violations still pending in terms of some URL’s and that a criminal complaint has also been filed with the Prosecutor’s office. For these reasons, the guardian of the data subject has applied to the Personal Data Protection Authority.
As a result of the complaint, the Board made the following evaluations,
- The minor subject to the news is a data subject, and the photograph included in the content subject to the complaint is a personal data,
- The company is data controller within the scope of the Law therefore, it shall be subjected to the obligations under the Law; and the publication of the photograph in the content subject to the complaint is a personal data processing activity,
- Data processing is carried out without meeting the processing conditions stipulated under the Law, therefore, the data controller has not taken necessary technical and administrative measures to ensure the appropriate level of security.
In the light of its evaluations, the Board decided to impose an administrative fine on the data controller considering that the photograph of the data subject is published on the data controller’s website with false content not related to the data subject, without obtaining the explicit consent of the guardian or meeting the conditions stipulated under the Law.
You may reach the full Turkish version of the Decision via the link below.
