Employer wants my headshot on their website, I am trying to opt out.

The post I found in this sub about this issue is 5 yrs old and I couldn’t reply to it.

Title says it all. I don’t have an online presence with real personal info and my photo is nowhere to be found on the internet because I find it dangerous. My name is ethnic and unique, making it easy to look me up if people try.

HR reached out to schedule my headshot. I voiced my concerns, they let their boss know, their boss let my boss know. Now my boss needs to dig into the details. “Privacy concern” isn’t a legitimate reason apparently. Sounds like the higher ups really want to have our photo up there for whatever reason.

Context, I am an entry-level individual contributor, non-customer facing, no license/registration that the public need to verify, not a leader. Frankly no reason they HAVE to have my photo up there.

Anyone has similar experience pushing back and how did it go? What were your justifications to the request?

I’ll add that my past employers didn’t give me a hard time when I made such request, no questions asked once I chose to opt out. So I’m kinda not sure what to do now.

Edit to add: I’m opting out for having my photo on the website for the public to see. I am okay with attending the headshot session for internal use (e.g. my badge). I am in the U.S.