The Data Protection Agency has decided to sanction a fashion company with 10,000 euros for posting a photo of a client dressed in a wedding dress on her Instagram so that said client would pay the debt she had with the establishment.
The AEPD considers that, due to the purpose of collecting said debt, which would be an aggravating circumstance, neither did it have – nor did it try to obtain it – with the consent of the affected person to appear on the social networks of the wedding dress firm.
They publish an unpaid dress on Instagram
The case dates back to a year ago, September 2021, when a newlywed couple went to the Spanish Data Protection Agency to report that the company that had been in charge of the bride’s dress had published on their social networks, specifically on Instagram, a photograph in which the bride was identified dressed in the suit of this firm.
According to the data provided, it was denounced that this publication was not for promotional purposes, but that the only intention of making public that this brand was responsible for making her dress was to force the payment of the outstanding economic debt between the parties.
The brand defended itself alleging that said published image did not make it possible to identify the claimants, since they only showed the figure of a man and a woman and their faces had been covered with a black circle, expressly modifying it so that none of them were recognizable. the members of the photo, in addition to other mitigating factors such as the fact that the published image was published for less than an hour, that the photo was posted previously by the claimant herself and that she had been posting all her designs on networks since 2014.
Fine of 10,000 euros for illicit treatment
Despite these explanations from the fashion firm, it was decided that the photograph did allow the couple to be identified and that was the main reason for posting them on the fashion firm’s Instagram, forcing them to collect outstanding debts from the sale of the suit.
The AEPD justifies the right of the affected party by explaining that the lack of total or partial payment of the bride’s dress “does not legitimize the claimed party to use the images of the claimants, if it does not have their express consent.”
In this case, an infringement of article 6 of the General Data Protection Regulation has been committed, which deals with the “Legality of the treatment” and states that “The treatment will only be lawful if a) the interested party gave his consent for the treatment of your personal data for one or more specific purposes. Lacking this consent, he considers the intention of the company as an aggravating circumstance, since the purpose of pressing for the payment of the debt is justified since they removed the images when paying for the wedding dress.
For this violation of the RGPD, the AEPD has imposed a penalty of 10,000 euros for violating the provisions of article 6.
