Photo sharing law in Georgia

Posting another person’s photograph is not automatically unlawful, but publication without consent can infringe image, privacy, dignity and personal-data rights. The result depends on where the image was taken, whether the person is identifiable, the purpose and context of publication, the audience and any genuine public interest.

Taking and publishing a photo are different

Consent to be photographed may not cover publication on a public account, use in an advertisement or reuse with a meaning-changing caption. Purpose, audience, platform and scope of consent must be considered.

Georgia’s legal framework

Article 18 of the Civil Code protects image, privacy and dignity and may support an order to stop dissemination and, where the legal conditions are met, damages. The article lists exceptions connected with public recognition or office, justice and law enforcement, scientific, educational or cultural purposes, public circumstances and paid posing. Those exceptions are not an unlimited licence: relevance, purpose and proportionality still matter.

High-risk uses

• images from a home, hospital, changing area or another setting with an expectation of privacy;
• intimate, health, family or other sensitive content;
• an insulting meme, sexualised AI deepfake or false allegation;
• advertising or an apparent endorsement without permission;
• a fake profile or impersonation;
• publishing an address, phone, a child’s school or real-time location;
• material taken from private messages, a closed account or unauthorised access.

Public places, children and copyright

An incidental person in a wide public-event image or genuinely newsworthy event may have a stronger lawful basis. Focusing on one person, exposing vulnerability or using the image commercially requires a separate assessment. A child’s best interests receive heightened weight. The subject’s image/privacy rights and the photographer’s copyright are separate permissions.

Open profiles and reposts

Being viewable does not authorise copying into ads, fake accounts or degrading contexts. Crediting the source does not cure missing consent or copyright permission. A repost or screenshot can itself be a new dissemination.

What can the person do?

1. Preserve the URL, account ID, date, caption and full screenshots before removal.
2. Use the platform’s privacy, impersonation or harassment channel.
3. Send a written takedown and no-reposting demand.
4. Where relevant, seek erasure and complain to the supervisory authority or court.
5. For intimate material, blackmail, account hacking or a credible threat, contact 112 and the cybercrime unit immediately.