Singer Beyonce criticised for sharing pictures of her baby twins on social media
Celebrities who post pictures of their children on social media should be prosecuted, the actress Romola Garai has suggested, as Beyoncé Knowles-carter released the first image of her twins on Instagram.
The elaborately staged picture of the singer, wearing a pink floral dress and blue veil, cradling the month-old Sir Carter and Rumi – whose names were also confirmed for the first time – received more than four million “likes” within four hours.
However, the image, which referenced a photo Beyoncé posted during her pregnancy, prompted a mixed reaction.
“It’s not a subtle photo, by any stretch of the imagination,” said BBC News music reporter Mark Savage.
It follows the backlash against the Beckhams for posting photographs online of their daughter Harper’s sixth birthday party, held at Buckingham Palace.
The fashion designer Stella Mccartney is said to be “furious” that her six-yearold daughter was included in the images the Beckhams sharead with their 55 million Instagram followers.
Garai, star of Atonement and the television drama The Hour, said: “The privacy of children is invaded on a catastrophic scale. It should be illegal to post pictures of children without their permission.”
Garai, 34, who has two children with her husband, the actor Sam Hoare, reportedly said: “If you have a private channel to share things among friends, that’s one thing.”
The actress, currently appearing in Queen Anne at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, added: “But I can’t imagine that this generation of children won’t turn round in 20 years and say, ‘I didn’t want to be naked in a picture seen by millions of people I don’t know’.”
Some public figures, though, argue that publishing approved images of their children, in a manner that they control, is a way of trying to avoid paparazzi harassment. Celebrities such as the Beckhams, TV chef Gordon Ramsay and socialite Tamara Ecclestone regularly share pictures of their children online.