privacy social-media
Reposting pictures of private Instagram account elsewhere
<p>Is it illegal to post pictures from a private Instagram account on the internet? 
My friend has a private Instagram account but her posts were seen on a sub reddit. She didn't give consent to repost her picture. Is it possible to take legal action against the person who reposted that picture? (Fyi, it's a little revealing photo of her and she doesn't want random people to see it) </p>

<p><strong>tl;dr:</strong> In general, yes, posting pictures from a private Instagram account is illegal (but it depends).</p>

<ul>
<li>If the person posting the pictures does not hold the rights to the pictures, posting them is a <strong>copyright violation</strong>.</li>
<li>Additionally, many jurisdiction recognize <strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_rights" rel="nofollow noreferrer">personality rights</a></strong> that limit what you may do with private photos of someone else (independent of copyright situation). That usually includes the right not to have private photos published.</li>
</ul>

<p>Note, however, that these rules have various exceptions.</p>

<p>For example, for copyright, if some photos were not taken by the friend, but by someone else, that person probably holds the rights to them, and can publish them without violating copyright. So for example if you privately post cat images taken by a friend, that friend could publish them elsewhere.</p>

<p>Personality rights also have limitations - usually only photos of a "private nature" are protected. What that means depends on details, but for example nude photos taken in private would probably be protected, but a photo while walking down the street might not be.</p>
