Father Refuses To Let Son Be in Teacher’s TikTok Videos, Teacher Responds With Backhanded Insult

Social media is a powerful tool, but it can also bring up complicated questions about consent and privacy, especially when it comes to children.

This parent found themselves at odds with their son’s math teacher after discovering that class videos, including appearances from students, were being posted on the teacher’s TikTok account.

While the teacher argues that it’s all part of making learning fun, the parent wasn’t comfortable with their child’s image being shared without explicit permission.

After learning that their son had agreed to be featured, the parent still felt uneasy and decided to intervene.

In an era where social media and classroom technology increasingly intersect, the OP’s concern about his son appearing on a teacher’s public TikTok page is rooted in genuine questions around privacy, consent, and parental authority.

What might seem like an innocent educational video can raise significant issues when children’s images are shared on publicly accessible platforms without clear, explicit permission from parents or legal guardians.

Legal and educational policy frameworks around student privacy make parental consent a central component of using children’s images and videos in settings beyond the classroom.

In the United States, federal student privacy laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA) are designed to protect students’ educational records and related personally identifiable information.

Photos or videos that focus on specific students or associate them with identifiable information can fall under these privacy protections, meaning schools should be careful about how such media are used and shared.

Furthermore, best practices recommended by educational and privacy experts emphasize that schools and educators should collect valid, current photo/video consent from parents and clearly document permissions before posting students’ images or videos online or on social media sites.

Having this consent annually and making sure parents understand where, how, and why their child’s images might be used helps avoid misunderstandings and respects family privacy preferences.

Professional guidelines for protecting student privacy on social media also caution against sharing students’ faces or names without explicit parental consent.

Even well‑intentioned classroom posts can unintentionally make children “speakers” for content they did not actively choose to produce, especially when posted on public platforms like TikTok.

Beyond U.S. standards, international guidance underscores the broader principle that parents or caregivers should gain permission before sharing photos or videos of children online.

This idea is echoed in child safety and privacy policies that encourage organizations to inform and involve families in decision‑making before posting children’s images on social channels.

Additionally, discussions about sharenting and children’s digital footprints highlight the risks associated with posting children’s images online, including privacy erosion, identity exposure, and unintended uses by third parties.

Even when a platform isn’t used for commercial purposes, the long‑term online presence of a child’s image can affect their privacy in ways that are difficult to predict or control later in life.

It’s also relevant that general legal principles regarding photographing or filming minors assert that children, by virtue of their age, cannot legally give full consent themselves; instead, that authority typically resides with their parents or legal guardians.

Even when an educational agreement is signed at the start of the year, it’s reasonable for parents to revisit or clarify the scope of that consent, especially for public posting versus classroom use only.

Given these considerations, the OP’s position, that his son cannot provide informed consent alone for public social media use, is aligned with both legal norms and recommended privacy practices.

A constructive way forward would be to seek clear, written parental preferences about public sharing, and for educators to communicate transparently with families about how classroom media will be used beyond internal educational purposes.

This helps build trust, respects parental authority, and protects student privacy while still allowing creative, technology‑enhanced learning.

Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:

These commenters emphasize that consent for filming in the classroom does not extend to distributing those videos on social media platforms like TikTok.

These users share similar concerns, with several pointing out that using children for social media content, especially in an educational context, is exploitative.

These commenters further question the purpose of the teacher posting the videos online.

A few users even go as far as to suggest the OP should bypass the teacher entirely and take the complaint directly to the school board or higher administration if the teacher doesn’t take their concerns seriously.

This situation clearly highlights a difference in boundaries and expectations when it comes to children’s privacy and social media. While the teacher might feel he’s creating engaging content, the OP is standing firm on their right to protect their child’s consent.

Was the teacher right to assume blanket consent from the classroom agreement, or was the OP justified in setting a clear boundary? How would you handle a teacher mixing personal social media with class content? Share your thoughts below!