Michael Phelps’ infant has his own Instagram account. Read this before you make one for your child

He’s verified. He has 450,000 followers. He’s Instagram’s newest star.

And he’s three months old.

Yes, the son of Olympic icon Michael Phelps has his very own Instagram account. While some celebrities and athletes have taken great strides to shield their offspring from the spotlight, Phelps and model Nicole Johnson seem to have taken the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” approach. Their son, Boomer, was sure to be a spectacle of fascination in Rio, where he was frequently in his mother’s arms while she cheered Phelps on to six more medals.

Rather than try to hide the infant, Boomer was decked out in patriotic swag and introduced to the world. The photo captions are even written in his voice: “Time to wake up!!! Daddy is racing soon!!!”

Such adorable baby-bragging is sure to have many parents reaching for their own phones to hop on board with this “sharenting” trend. Chances are, their kids already have an online presence – 92 per cent of American parents post photos of their children online before they turn two. Making separate accounts for pictures of their kid could be a courtesy to followers who don’t want to see a photo every time baby cracks a smile. But parents might not be considering the most important aspect of photo-sharing today: copyright.

When you share a photo of your baby online, what can happen to it?

When you take a photo, you own the rights to it. When you post it on Facebook or Instagram, you still own the rights to it. But remember when you breezed by the lengthy jumble of “terms of use” upon signing up for your account? On Instagram, when you click “agree,” you grant “non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to use the content that you post” to Instagram. This means Instagram can use any photos you post publicly on your account, any time, for free.