Splitting up: Can you demand your ex to remove images and content about you from their social media and not post about you in the future?

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. The world of social media is constantly evolving, and so too is its relationship with Family Courts around the country.

According to leading family lawyer, Fiona Reid, there has been a growing conversation on Australian soil about whether you can restrict your ex-partner’s power to post or discuss yourself or your children online, following a number of A-list celebrities’ ugly marriage breakdowns.

Fiona Reid is the founder of Reid Family Lawyers, one of Australia’s most respected family law firms with offices on the Northern Beaches and inner Sydney.

“Multiple Grammy Award winner, Adele, has made headlines for a controversial, unique key term included in her $280 million divorce settlement with her ex-husband,” Reid said.

“The singer-songwriter reached a deal with her ex in early 2021 not to write tracks about him as a mark of ‘respect’. With the two going their separate ways, Adele agreed to not sing about their failed marriage in order to finalise their two-year drawn out court proceedings and to protect their son, Angelo.

“While most Aussies, like myself, aren’t topping the charts with their ballads, the conversation in the courtroom is still becoming more and more common in regard to censoring ex-partners from discussing their previous relationship, or their children on a public platform. What many people don’t know is that there is provision in the Family Law Act which prevents publication by any electronic means which would have the effect of identifying a party, witness or child involved in family law proceedings. There are quite serious penalties for breaching this rule.”

According to Reid, the simple answer to if you can include, as part of your divorce settlement, that the other person must remove any past mentions of you from the public platforms or social media accounts, and refrain from doing so in the future, is yes.