PROTECTED BY WHOM? CHILDREN’S FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS IN THE AGE OF SHARENTING. A CONSTITUTIONAL PERSPECTIVE FROM ITALY

The protection of children’s rights is a core component of both Italian and European legal traditions, and has gradually been extended to address new challenges that have emerged—among others—in the so-called Digital Era (see GDPR). Nevertheless, technological evolution continues to generate new threats to children, some of which arise from unexpected directions. One such threat is the phenomenon known as “sharenting”, the rapidly growing practice of parents sharing images and information about their children online, sometimes even before birth (e.g., ultrasound images). This trend has raised concerns and has become a subject of study for scholars in the social sciences, and more recently for legal scholars as well. The growing apprehensions stem from the many negative consequences of sharenting on children's rights. First, it directly affects multiple fundamental rights (privacy, image, identity), all of which converge in the broader right to a child’s self- determination. Second, it poses severe security risks, as it exposes the children involved to threats associated with cybercrimes and the child exploitation market. Parallel to the phenomenon of sharenting, another issue has emerged with equal force—the so-called “baby influencers”. While similar in nature, this phenomenon differs in legal terms, as it falls under the category of child labour yet remains largely unregulated in most European legal systems (with the notable exception of France). This essay aims to explore these phenomena and the associated risks, not merely in terms of the recognition of children’s rights but, more importantly, their actual effectiveness, with a particular focus on the Italian context. In Italy, on one hand, lower courts are increasingly faced with requests for injunctions and damages; on the other, multiple legislative proposals have been submitted to Parliament in an effort to address the issue through regulation.