# Review protest photos before publishing faces

> A practical review of faces, identifying details and exported copies when deciding whether to publish a protest photograph.


A crowd picture can communicate the scale or feeling of an event while showing people who did not choose to become the subject of a public post. Before publishing, consider whose details are visible and whether the picture needs to be shared in that form.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's [protest privacy guide](https://ssd.eff.org/module/attending-protest) recommends considering consent and obscuring identifying details in images. It also notes that opaque blocking can be preferable to blur. Face coverage is one part of the review, not a complete anonymity plan.

## Decide what the public copy needs to show

Separate the purpose of documenting an event from the details you intend to publish. Is the important part a sign, a wide view or a particular person's action? Could another photograph tell the story with fewer identifiable people?

If you need to retain an original for documentation, keep it separate from the edited public copy and limit access appropriately. BlurFaces does not secure your original storage or decide what should be published.

## Use coverage that removes visible detail

Open [the protest-photo editor](https://blurfaces.app/blur-faces-for-protest-photos). Review the detections and choose Block for opaque rectangular coverage where that suits the image. Ensure the full intended area lies inside the box. Blur and pixelation retain transformed detail, and neither is a guarantee against identification.

Sweep across the frame systematically instead of checking only the centre. Inspect small faces, people in profile, partly hidden people and reflections. Add manual boxes for missed regions; small automatic detections under 100 source pixels in either dimension are skipped.

## Review the rest of the scene

A tattoo, distinctive jacket, companion or readable sign may identify someone despite a covered face. Look at the background and image edges as carefully as the main group. Consider what landmarks and the accompanying caption reveal about the time, place and people.

A manual rectangle can cover another visible detail, but it does not analyse all possible identifiers. If the photo cannot be edited into a version you are comfortable publishing, reconsider the post.

## Keep export and publication separate

Download the edited copy and inspect it before publication. BlurFaces does not copy original source metadata into the export. It preserves the original oriented dimensions and re-encodes the image, so keep any original you need separately.

Review the filename and caption as well. The export retains the original filename stem, which may be worth changing. These steps reduce some disclosures; they do not guarantee that a person or event cannot be identified from the remaining context.

The [privacy checklist](https://blurfaces.app/guides/photo-privacy-checklist) can help structure the final review. This workflow covers still images, not footage or a complete assessment of risks around an event.

[Open the photo editor](https://blurfaces.app/blur-faces-for-protest-photos)

## Keep reading

- [Is Gaussian blur enough to hide a face?](https://blurfaces.app/guides/limits-of-gaussian-blur.md)
- [A photo privacy checklist before you post](https://blurfaces.app/guides/photo-privacy-checklist.md)
- [Sharing street and travel photos with fewer visible bystanders](https://blurfaces.app/guides/street-photography-bystanders.md)

[BlurFaces app](https://blurfaces.app/) · [Privacy policy](https://blurfaces.app/privacy)