Street fashion photography must have moral, legal red line

Illustration: Liu Xiangya/Global Times

After a recent video of "a company executive strolling on the street hand-in-hand with a young woman in a trendy place in Chengdu" went viral online, it soon turned out to be a man and his mistress being spotted and photo taken in the public.

This incident again brought street snapping under the spotlight. The video was taken by a photographer who enjoys taking pictures of people on the street, a hobby sometimes called street snapping. 

In many trendy places in China's big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, many people like to snap photos or shoot videos of attractive women or men, their fashionable clothes, and the places they dine or shop. On Chinese social media, there are countless video clips and photos taken by these street photographers. While some people may not mind being photographed, others find this act disconcerting as they feel it intrudes their privacy. 

"It depends on whether street photographers get the consent of the passersby first. If the people agree, street photography seems to be all right. But if not, and if the photographer does it only for commercial purposes, that violates Article 1032 in the Chinese Civil Code promulgated in 2020," said Zhang Feng, an expert of Administrative Law and professor at the Law School of China University of Political Science and Law. 

On social media platforms, some bloggers sell suits, jeans and stockings together with the photos they snap on the streets, and others also shoot videos of people dining, traveling, shopping with links to these activities to attract netizens. According to reports, some street snappers can earn up to 20,000 to 30,000 yuan ($3,000-$4,200) a day by street snapping people and selling the fashionable clothing they are wearing online. Some photographers even go as far as taking photos of the private parts of young women. 

"This is a typical act that violates other people's right to privacy, their likeness and reputation, and should be punished by law," a lawyer in Beijing said. He also suggested that some social media platforms and law enforcement should respond more efficiently to complaints. 

According to Xiaomi, the person­ who posted the video of the two people in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, they later sent him a message, so he deleted the video because "street snapping should respect the will of the people themselves." 

"If they had refused me back when I asked to film them, I wouldn't have shot it nor put it online."

The incident in Chengdu also sounded a warning for the trendy places, which have acted to regulate street snapping. 

After the incident, special personnel in the Taikoo Li shopping area in Chengdu, where the two people's videos were shot, were dispatched to deal with any unauthorized photography. However, they still allow visitors to take photos with their phones so long as the subject of the photo has given consent.  

Later, the administration of the Taikoo Li shopping area in Beijing's Sanlitun put up several bulletins to raise the awareness of people's rights. It also states that Taikoo Li does not support any unauthorized street snapping and that it will set up a formal channel to apply for commercial street photography. It regulates that normal photo shooting is allowed, but a staff member may intervene when photographers follow the people to take photos of them.

Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province seems to hold a more open attitude toward street snapping, allowing the activity as long as it doesn't bother customers. 

Concerning this issue, one blogger noted that getting the consent of the people being filmed or photographed is the basic precondition for street snapping. Meanwhile, shooting sites and content should be carefully selected so as to not violate people's right to privacy.  

It is very important to strengthen patrols of the key areas of street snapping in order to provide a clear and safe environment for customers and the commercial activities.