Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have long taken steps to shield their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, from public view. The last time the two youngsters’ faces were seen on camera was in the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan.

Since then, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have avoided releasing photos of their children’s faces, citing safety and privacy concerns. On her return to Instagram earlier this year, Markle began sharing glimpses of family life, but images of Archie and Lilibet are always obscured — often shown from behind or covered with emojis.

Speaking to CBS in an earlier interview, the Duchess explained: “Our kids are young… They’re amazing, but all you want to do as parents is protect them. And so, as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there.”

Even on family outings — such as Princess Lilibet’s recent fourth birthday trip to Disneyland — Markle covered her children’s faces with love heart emojis before posting the photos online.

Cybersecurity experts raise concerns

However, specialists are now warning that this practice provides only a false sense of security. Lisa Ventura, a cybersecurity expert and founder of Cyber Security Unity, told The Independent: “Putting an emoji over a child’s face provides virtually no real privacy protection whatsoever. This approach is more security theatre than actual security.”

According to experts, enough details can still be gleaned from backgrounds, clothing, and locations in the photos to identify children even when their faces are hidden. They also warn that advances in artificial intelligence now make it possible to digitally remove stickers or emojis and attempt to reconstruct facial features, potentially leading to malicious uses such as blackmail, cyberbullying, or the creation of abusive material.

Ventura stressed that the real risk comes from the accumulation of multiple images: “Most parents aren’t just posting one carefully emoji-protected photo. They’re sharing multiple images over time, and the combined data from all those posts creates a much bigger privacy concern than any single image.”

As a safer option, experts recommend avoiding emojis altogether and instead taking photos of children from behind or placing physical objects in front of their faces to ensure that no identifiable features are exposed.