TRUST-BASED PRIVACY PRESERVING PHOTO SHARING IN ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS

Abstract

The explosive growth of Online Social Networks (OSNs) has made photo sharing a primary means of social interaction. However, sharing co-owned photos often leads to serious privacy violations because current OSN privacy policies are user-centric and fail to consider the privacy preferences of all individuals appearing in the photo. Trust-Based Privacy Preserving Photo Sharing in Online Social Networks is a novel framework that leverages trust relationships among users to dynamically control the visibility and anonymization of co-owned photos. The system computes trust scores based on social interactions, relationship strength, and user feedback. It then applies selective anonymization techniques such as face blurring, region masking, or pixelation on sensitive parts of the image according to the minimum trust threshold set by co-owners. By integrating trust evaluation with image processing and access control mechanisms, the framework effectively reduces privacy leakage while preserving the usability and visual quality of shared photos. The proposed system supports multi-user decision-making for coowned content and provides a scalable, user-friendly solution for secure photo sharing in platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Experimental results demonstrate significant reduction in privacy risk with minimal impact on photo utility and social engagement.