Daughter 'digitally kidnapped' on Facebook by strange man

Woman finds photos of her daughter on man with no relation pretending to be her father.

One man has reportedly grabbed and posted photos online of a four-year-old girl, claiming that she is his daughter. The girl's real mother is now in despair after learning that a man was posing as her daughter's father through a Facebook page. Unfortunately, her reports to the social media company were only responded with a message that the man's page with her child's pictures met community standards.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "It was my daughter! All over his page. It's scary. That's the only thing I can really say, it's scary," cried Danica Patterson who is now blocked from the man's page and can't do anything about it, aside from complaining on social media to gather attention from Facebook.

The problem with the case is that "digital kidnapping" is not considered illegal in the country, explained one lawyer expert on social media.

   
"It's occurring nationwide. And it's, sadly, creepy but not directly illegal," said Atty. John Browning.

According to him, as cited in CBS Local, the Texas law only protects an individual's identity from being stolen in social media through impersonation, but it does not encompass cases where they pretend to be related to you, which is a very gray area.

The man, who is said to be living in New York City, has already blocked Patterson because of her complaints regarding the specific photos, so she now has to report his whole profile to the social media company. She explained she has asked dozens of friends to help her in the complaints, but she needs more.

"Facebook sees no problem with this man pretending this little girl is his," said Patterson, hoping that the news about her daughter will help social media reconsider its initial response. She has admitted that she carelessly posted the photos on her public profile, enabling full access to anyone.

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