The State Inspector’s Service examined lawfulness of publication of audio-video recordings revealing minor beneficiaries of Ninotsminda Town St. Nino Boarding School for Orphans, Stray and Children without Parental Care via social network Facebook.

Based on the inspection, it was revealed that on 4 July 2021, the chief of the Boarding School publicly posted several video-audio recordings depicting the minor beneficiaries of the Boarding schools on his private Facebook account via Live streaming. The recordings enabled complete identification of the minors. In particular, minors’ various data were publicly available in the recordings: name, surname, visual image, voice, psycho-emotional state, information about the child under the care of the boarding school and current/desirable living place(s), identity of their close relatives and their mobile numbers.

The audio-video recordings which were publicly posted on Facebook for about a month, accumulated tens of thousands of views, hundreds of comments and thousands of reactions. Simultaneously, any member of the social media was able to express their opinion on audio-video recordings, share the recordings on their own page and download them.

The State Inspector clarified in the decision that publication of the beneficiaries’ data in this form by the boarding school violates minors’ right to privacy, dignity and poses real risks for discrimination, bullying (including cyberbullying), online harassment, victimization, ill-treatment, as well as illegal use by minors. These threats are further exacerbated with the publication of the information on social media making the scale of dissemination of information wider and irreversible.

Despite the great interest of public in the developments around the boarding school and the legal status of the minor beneficiaries living there during May and June in 2021, special care was needed when disclosing minors’ personal data. In some cases, information (including personal data) made public through public statements might be considered as a lawful and proportionate means for protecting interests, although the best interests of the child are deemed as a primary over other interests under national and international law. Therefore, the representative of the boarding school whose direct duty was protecting rights of children and had a special role in protecting confidentiality of conversations and private meetings, was obliged to assess the above-mentioned threats.

Accordingly, the State Inspector’s Service did not consider disclosure of video-audio recordings containing minors’ data (name, surname, visual image, voice, psycho-emotional state, information about the child under the care of the boarding school and current/desirable living place(s), identity of their close relatives and their mobile numbers) necessary and proportionate means of achieving legitimate interests, even though there was a boarding school’s legitimate interest – protection of the school’s reputation.

It should also be mentioned that in the process of inspection, the Boarding School did not cooperate with the State Inspector’s Service.

By the decision of the State Inspector, under the first paragraphs of Article 44-45 of the law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection, a fine - an administrative liability was imposed on Ninotsminda Town St. Nino Boarding School for Orphans, Stray and Children without Parental Care for non-proportional disclosure of the minors’ personal data and failure to fulfil the requirements of the State Inspector’s Service.