Liam Payne’s family has taken extensive legal action to remove photographs of the singer’s body from the internet following his death. Their primary aim was to protect his son, Bear, from encountering the distressing images in the future. The British newspaper Mirror reports.

After the former One Direction member died in October 2024, TMZ published cropped photographs of his body showing his distinctive tattoos. Although the images were soon removed, copies continued to circulate on social media and appear in search results.

According to Mirror, the singer’s relatives managed to enlist Argentine courts in their efforts to stop the images from spreading. In June 2025, a court order restricting the publication of such material was sent to Facebook and Google. Argentina’s telecommunications regulator, ENACOM, was also involved in the case. The restrictions also covered potential leaks of photographs from the police investigation.

According to a source cited by the newspaper, the family’s main concern was to protect Bear from encountering the images as he grew older. The report also notes that a similar legal precedent had already been set: Diego Maradona’s daughters sought comparable measures after photographs of the footballer’s body were circulated.

Payne’s former partner, singer Cheryl Cole, had sought to shield their son from media attention since his birth. Following Liam’s death, she made a separate public appeal, asking people not to share distressing details about his final hours.

“Liam was not just a pop star and celebrity. He was a son, a brother, an uncle, a dear friend and the father of our seven-year-old son. Now he has to face the reality of never seeing his father again,” Cheryl wrote in an emotional statement two days after the tragedy.

She also admitted that what worried her most was Bear’s future, as he might one day come across the posts and material published after his father’s death.

Liam Payne died on October 16, 2024, at the age of 31 after falling from the third-floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires. At the time, the singer was in Argentina after attending a concert by his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan.

The investigation into the circumstances of his death is ongoing. According to Mirror, two men still face charges of supplying drugs to the singer on the night he died, while a trial date has yet to be set. The British inquest is also still underway, with the next hearing scheduled for December 1.

For Payne’s family, the fight to remove the photographs has become part of a broader effort to protect the singer’s memory and spare his son the painful details of the tragedy.