A resident of Karaganda has won compensation in court for the unauthorized use of her photo on Instagram. The court ordered a man to pay 100,000 tenge, according to infohub.kz.
The case was heard in the district court No. 2 of the Kazybekbi district of Karaganda. The plaintiff sought to protect her right to her own image, prohibit further use of the photo, and recover moral damages.
The reason for the lawsuit was a post discovered by the woman on February 20, 2026. On the defendant's page, her photo was published with her last name and the caption “500,000 tenge.” She had not given consent for the publication.
Initially, the woman tried to resolve the matter amicably by sending a pre-trial claim demanding the photo be removed and 250,000 tenge in moral damages. However, the defendant refused to comply. Only on March 30, more than a month later, did he delete the post.
The court noted that deleting the photo does not negate the violation: during that time, the image was publicly accessible.
According to Article 145 of the Civil Code of Kazakhstan, publishing a person's image without their consent is prohibited, except when the photo is taken at a public event or relates to public activities. The defendant could not confirm lawful grounds for posting the photo.
The court partially granted the claim: it banned further use of the plaintiff's images without consent and awarded 100,000 tenge in moral damages, as well as court costs. The appellate instance upheld the decision.