'My face is everywhere — and I never agreed to it': Parisians speak out on duplicate image use

Mariam, a 34-year-old graphic designer who lives near the Canal de l'Ourcq in the 19th arrondissement, discovered her portrait — taken by a street photographer at the Marché de la Villette three years ago — being used on at least four separate commercial websites selling tourist merchandise. She had never signed a release. She had never been paid. The image had simply been scraped, duplicated, and redistributed.

She is far from alone. Across Paris, a growing number of residents — from market traders in Barbès to small-business owners on the Rue Oberkampf — are raising alarms about the unauthorised duplication and reuse of their images, particularly as AI-assisted image tools have made copying and reskinning photographs faster and cheaper than ever before. The issue has moved from a niche legal grievance into something approaching a street-level political complaint.

A city of images — and a gap in the law

France has some of Europe's strongest personality-rights protections. Under Article 9 of the Civil Code, every person retains the right to their own image — le droit à l'image — and commercial use without written consent is theoretically prohibited. But enforcement is patchy, and the explosion of AI image tools since 2023 has created what legal aid organisations describe as a compliance vacuum. The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés, the French data-protection authority known as the CNIL, received more than 14,200 complaints related to unlawful image use in 2025 — a figure that had roughly doubled over two years, according to the authority's published annual report.

The Paris municipal government's Direction de la Démocratie, des Citoyens et des Territoires has begun incorporating image-rights awareness into its community mediation workshops, particularly in the northeastern arrondissements where street art, outdoor markets, and public events generate dense photographic activity. But residents say awareness is not the same as remedy.

Thierry, who runs a fromagerie on the Rue de Bretagne in the Marais, says a photograph of him taken outside his shop during the 2024 Olympic torch relay was later used without permission in a social-media advertising campaign for a product he had no connection to. He contacted the platform and received no response for six weeks. When the image was eventually removed, there was no acknowledgement, no apology, and no compensation.

Belleville and beyond: where the problem concentrates

Community groups in Belleville — a neighbourhood that has long attracted street photographers and documentary filmmakers drawn to its layered, multicultural character — say the problem is particularly acute there. The association Belleville en Vue, which advocates for residents around the Rue de Belleville and Boulevard de la Villette, has been fielding requests from locals who want to understand their rights after finding their images reproduced on stock-image platforms, some based outside the EU and therefore harder to pursue under French law.

The practical barriers are significant. Filing a formal complaint with the CNIL requires documentation, persistence, and ideally a lawyer — costs that residents in lower-income parts of the 10th and 20th arrondissements often cannot absorb. A basic consultation with a specialist in image rights at a Paris cabinet d'avocats runs between €150 and €350 per hour. Free legal aid under the aide juridictionnelle scheme covers some cases, but awareness of eligibility is low.

Pressure is also coming from the cultural sector. Several photographers who work the flea markets at Porte de Clignancourt and document daily life in Seine-Saint-Denis say their own work is being duplicated by AI tools that generate near-identical derivative images, undercutting their ability to sell original prints or license their portfolios.

The European Union's AI Act, which entered phased enforcement in 2025, includes provisions on biometric data and synthetic media, but legal specialists say consumer-facing protections in practice remain thin for individuals pursuing cases below the threshold of mass data processing. Advocacy groups including La Quadrature du Net have been pushing the CNIL to issue clearer enforcement guidance specifically covering AI-generated image duplication.

For anyone who believes their image is being used without consent, the CNIL offers an online complaint portal at cnil.fr and operates a public helpline. The Paris Bar Association's Maison du Droit network — with drop-in locations in several arrondissements including the 18th and 13th — provides initial consultations at no charge. Residents are advised to document every instance of unauthorised use with screenshots, URLs, and dates before filing.