A video of friends celebrating uninhibitedly or a photo of a female politician that was taken from a news website – it happens time and again that videos or photos are published on social media platforms without the rights holder or the person depicted having been asked for permission. This often constitutes a legal infringement.
In the case of our female politician example, it concerns a photograph protected by copyright. The Swiss Copyright Act protects texts, images, photographs and videos and provides that such works may in principle only be used with the consent of the rights holders. This applies regardless of where or on which platform such content is published. There are few exceptions to this principle, for example in the case of a so-called image quotation.
In the case of the party video, the personal rights of the person depicted are particularly affected, namely their right to their own image. Without the person's consent, publication on a social media platform would generally constitute an infringement of personal rights.
What can affected persons do?
Anyone who discovers that content has been published on a social media platform without permission should document the publication. To this end, it is advisable to take screenshots and save the corresponding links to the posts.
If the relevant persons who committed the infringement are known, it is worthwhile to first contact them and request the deletion of the content. Often, the problem can already be resolved in this way without great effort.
However, such prior contact is not strictly necessary or even a prerequisite for further action. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube provide their own contact forms through which copyright infringements and/or violations of personality rights can be reported, although it is somewhat annoying that these forms are sometimes not to be found with a single click.
- Facebook/Instagram: On Facebook and Instagram, both of which belong to the Meta Group, posts can be reported using the reporting function. To do so, affected parties select the three-dot menu on the relevant post and then the corresponding reporting option. For copyright infringements, Meta also provides special reporting forms. In doing so, affected parties must in particular state which content is affected and why they are entitled to assert the copyrights. If, on the other hand, the matter concerns an infringement of the right to one's own image, affected parties can report the publication via the reporting channels provided for this purpose.
- YouTube: YouTube also distinguishes between copyright infringements and privacy violations. If a copyrighted video has been uploaded without permission, rights holders can request its removal via YouTube's copyright procedure. Persons who are shown in a video without their consent can, under certain conditions, file a complaint for violation of privacy.
The platform reviews the complaint and decides whether the reported content will be removed. However, a report does not automatically lead to deletion. The platform may request additional information or reject the complaint. Moreover, we unfortunately find time and again that obvious infringements are not deleted.
It may therefore be necessary to take legal action and proceed directly against the infringer or the social media platform concerned.
In the case of copyright infringements, the Copyright Act provides for the possibility of seeking a court order for the elimination of an existing infringement or the prevention of an imminent infringement. In the case of infringements of personality rights, affected parties may, pursuant to Art. 28 of the Swiss Civil Code, assert an infringement of their personality and demand the elimination of an existing infringement or the cessation of an imminent infringement. Important in this context: Court proceedings involve costs that must generally be advanced by the plaintiff and are later allocated according to which party prevails and which party loses.
Depending on the circumstances, claims for damages or other legal claims may also come into consideration.
The fact that a platform is domiciled abroad does not preclude the application of Swiss law and the jurisdiction of the Swiss courts. Whether proceedings before a Swiss court are possible and against whom claims can be enforced depends, however, on the specific circumstances.
20 October 2026
