The Eiffel Tower situation is a somewhat complicated matter. You can (of course) publish a photo of the tower on your social media account. But the nighttime illumination is apparently copyrighted and it's not clear to me if the prohibition about publishing extends beyond commercial purposes anyway.

I agree with your broader point. Recognizable people get their photos published on social media every second of every day and, while someone can probably find an outlier example where someone got prosecuted for doing so, it's incredibly rare at the least--even in countries where it's technically a violation of some law.

In German, we also have a "Right to the image". It is based on our constitutional rights.

But, if you are a public figure, as in you are a media person, a celebrity or politician. As in you are actually searching for publicity, the situation changes. Here the beauty of shades of grey and work for lawyers begins.

Because while you have lost the clear cut black or white, there are still things that will get the person publishing into trouble.

When I started my career in online journalism this was a very long discussed topic while we had our course at the Academy for Journalism in Hamburg.

But for ordinary people, the right to your image is a quite strong protection.