What happens to someone's social media after they die?
When people die, they leave behind a vast digital footprint. Our generation is the first to face what happens to social media after death as a part of a new kind of online afterlife. Virtual funerals, memorial pages, and 'digital ghosts' will soon be an integral part of our cultural landscape.
Malta had around 354,000 to 439,200 Facebook and Instagram users in early 2023, representing a large majority (over 70-90%) of the population, with men slightly outnumbering women, especially in the 25-34 age bracket, according to Concept Stadium and NapoleonCat data. More recent trends show Facebook maintaining high penetration, though Meta's reporting has seen changes.
In the coming years, the number of deceased Facebook users will likely be large, possibly surpassing the living ones. But who controls your online legacy? Who can access your accounts? And what really happens to your digital self when you're gone?
Without passwords, managing a loved one's online life can become a stressful puzzle. Untangling accounts, subscriptions, and social media adds pressure on top of grief and funeral planning, a growing challenge as daily life moves increasingly online.
Some people leave behind more than memories. It is wise to plan for your digital afterlife by sharing smartphone passcodes or lists of online passwords, giving your family full access to manage accounts and preserve a loved one's online legacy.
There's no single way to memorialise or delete online accounts. While some companies, like Google, delete inactive accounts after two years, policies vary widely, leaving families to navigate a patchwork of rules across platforms.
As more users pass away, social media companies are learning how to manage the profiles they leave behind. Each platform now has its own rules for memorialising or removing accounts, balancing privacy with the need to give families a sense of closure.
To safeguard the accounts of the deceased, social media platforms usually require proof of death before making changes. Families may need to provide a death certificate or other official documents to delete or memorialise a profile.
Meta is arguably a pioneer in digital mourning, highlighting the platform's forward-thinking approach. It lets family or close friends request to delete or memorialise a loved one's account. These online spaces often become modern-day tributes, allowing memories, photos, and messages to live on long after someone's gone. It even lets users choose a legacy contact, someone who can manage parts of their account after death, like updating profile photos or accepting friend requests, offering a modern way to curate one's digital afterlife.
Since Meta owns Instagram, its memorialisation process is similar: anyone can request it with proof of death, like an obituary link. Memorialised Instagram accounts look normal but are locked in place, and privacy settings can't be changed. If deletion is requested instead, Instagram requires official proof of death, like a death certificate.
To spare loved ones unnecessary grief, Meta hides deceased users from friend suggestions and birthday alerts as small digital safeguards that help ease emotional strain in the wake of loss.
X allows account deactivation after death, but only if a family member or legal representative submits proof of identity and death, adding a layer of formality to the process of digital closure. Interestingly enough, X also weighs public interest, such as newsworthiness, before removing specific posts or images. This means not all content is taken down automatically, even after a user's death.
In contrast, Snapchat lacks a detailed policy for handling accounts after death. Snapchat won't grant account access after death, but it will delete the account if given a death certificate. To let someone manage your account, you'd need to share your login details in advance, which is basically a workaround outside official policy.
Since YouTube is owned by Google, most accounts link to Gmail. Google offers an "Inactive Account Manager" tool, letting users decide what happens to their data after a chosen period of inactivity, including deletion or transfer to a trusted contact.
Google's Inactive Account Manager lets users preselect actions like shutting down accounts or sharing data with chosen contacts. Without such a setup, family or legal representatives can request deactivation, provided they verify their identity and submit a death certificate.
Unfortunately, most platforms lack formal policies for handling accounts after death. Users often resort to sharing passwords and informal instructions, which are all methods that not only risk privacy but may also violate the terms of service.
Still, digital account access after death is becoming harder to manage. With biometric logins and two-factor authentication, only the original user can unlock their account. Platforms face a massive challenge in confirming individual deaths. Varying policies across platforms often leave grieving families confused about how to manage their loved ones' digital remains. Tech companies should simplify posthumous account management, and social media users, especially ageing baby boomers, should include digital legacy instructions in their wills, a trend I expect to grow in the coming years.
There is no doubt that navigating a loved one's online presence after death is a painful and complex task, as it touches legal boundaries, ethical questions, and deep emotional currents.
Creating an estate plan is one of the most thoughtful ways to care for your digital legacy. By including your online accounts in a trust or will, you can guide loved ones through your wishes, offering clarity, comfort, and a sense of continuity in a time of loss.
Dr Mark Said is a lawyer